The Shadow Boy
by davestridersjunk
Summary: Draco struggles to maintain his god-like reputation when his brother comes along and steals everything from him. He is immune to his evil brothers ways- but everyone else is not, and when Hermione Granger falls right into his trap, Draco has to decide just what is more important: his reputation, or her.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**The beautiful J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter, and I do not!

**Song: **I hate everything about you by Three Days Grace.

**Explanation: **Draco hates everything about Lucas, kind of simple to start off!

**A/N: Enjoy! And how good of me for uploading twice in one day? ;) Haha, just kidding! I'm feeling good because I got A's in my exams, so here's the product of it!**

* * *

"As you all know, we have a new student joining us today," Dumbledore's usual mellow voice boomed throughout the great hall. Everyone's interest was piqued- it wasn't every day that Hogwarts gained a new student.

Today, for Draco Malfoy however, was an _extremely_ bad day.

Imagine that you are the king, and that suddenly, someone stole every little thing from you.

Imagine that you're the shadow of your sibling.

Imagine that everyone likes you, but everyone loves him.

Imagine that you're _never_ good enough.

How would you feel?

His sneer was permanent as he tried to take in Dumbledore's words. He just couldn't believe it, after years and years of living in France, he'd come back. Why?

Why did he have to come back and come to Hogwarts? Everyone would like him better, and then Draco would become a shadow again, like he already was in his family.

"Please welcome, Lucas Malfoy!"

There was a gasp as everyone put two and two together. People didn't know whether to look at Draco or Lucas –the new boy- instead, they settled for flicking their eyes between the two.

Finally, one by one, there was a round of applause for the new student and he smirked, a smirk so identical to Draco's that it unnerved everyone. That was Draco's thing- the smirk. Nobody could ever mimic it, never mind completely _replace_ it.

The pupils scattered all over the great hall grew quiet as they took in the behaviour of the two boys. One smirked, one sneered, but they were near enough identical.

Slowly, the dirty blonde began swaggering his way down the space between the Gryffindor and Slytherin table, smirking as he went. He flashed Draco a smirk and then sat on the chair in front of the hall.

"No dilly-dallying now, let's get you a house," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling through his half-mooned glasses. The boy sneered slightly at the small chair he was being forced to sit on and looked skywards as a hat was placed onto his head.

"Slytherin!" The hat said immediately, as it had done with Draco also. Everyone shrugged in slight disappointment. Oh well, like brother, like… other brother.

Oh, and that was the icing on top of the cake then. Not only was Draco going to be _completely replaced_ by his own brother, he was also going to become second-best to that absolute prat. He knew it would only be moments before Lucas was deemed the new 'Slytherin Prince.'

Draco swallowed audibly as his brother walked towards him –preparing to take his seat at the Slytherin table- and set his lips in a firm, tight line, not bothering to return what his brother called a smile. Only the people close to him could see his anger, and he was desperately trying to contain it.

"Hello, little brother." Lucas smirked, finally arriving. Draco could see the evilness in his eyes, but no one else could. The girls swooned over him and many guys looked jealous and determined, as if they wanted to be him.

Draco looked up at the darker headed boy, seething on the inside. How dare that prick patronise him?! He was Draco _bloody Malfoy!_

Pansy laid her hand on Draco's, looking at him with a concerned expression, and it was then that he noticed the pain shooting through his own fist. He looked down at his own hand- curled around the edge of the table so hard that you'd think he was clinging on for his life- and let it go slightly, ignoring the pain that joined his move.

He looked back up at Lucas and sneered, massaging his palm. "Hello, Lucas."

The older sibling sighed in amusement and took a seat in front of Draco, looking at everyone around him. The only Slytherin's that noticed the tension were Blaise, Pansy and Goyle- and that was only because they knew of the unfortunate events that had changed the two brothers.

"How have you been?" Lucas smirked, enjoying every moment of Draco's discomfort. Draco's face remained emotionless, and it was clear that he had a problem with the other member of his family.

"Absolutely fantastic, you?" He nodded at him, feigning nonchalance. Lucas shrugged and smiled before sighing.

"Well, I travelled around Europe for a while, saved many people who were in danger and made father proud by making us a lot of money," He bragged. The girls around him squealed in delight and he sent them a handsome smile, impressing them even more. Someone good looking, heroic and rich? Who wouldn't!

"I asked how you were. Not what you'd been up to." Draco replied cheekily. Lucas taunted Draco even further by laughing.

"I've been… alright," He replied in a husky voice.

The conversation was over as soon as it started and the silence in the hall became non-existent as people began to chatter about what had just taken place. Professor McGonagall looked worriedly between Lucas and Draco, noting to Dumbledore about how they clearly didn't get on, but Dumbledore shushed her, telling her not to worry with a slight glimmer in his eye.

Nobody saw what had made Draco react the way he did, but just as soon as it had gotten louder, the whole hall became silent again as they listened to the loudest they'd ever heard Draco Malfoy's voice.

"Shut _up,_ you stupid prick!"

"Oh-ho-ho, bad language you've picked up there, little brother," Lucas sniggered. Draco's face went absolutely red with anger and he stood from his seat, prepared to leave before he took their little argument too far.

"Don't you dare fucking patronise me," Draco seethed. His dragon was let loose inside him and his anger had been produced in a flame from its mouth. He was absolutely livid and couldn't believe that he was even related to this utter prat.

"What's wrong? Can't take a little sibling competition?" Lucas mocked, and then he chuckled, looking all around him to the other Slytherin's. "Well, there's not really any competition, is there?"

Draco looked up at everyone's stares and suddenly became very aware that he was up out of his seat, ready for a fight, shouting obscenities in front of over 200 pupils. He swallowed, becoming rather embarrassed and tried to ignore their glances that said 'wow, what a jealous freak.'

He looked around, realising that his brother was right. He'd only been five minutes in the hall and already he'd won over everyone's hearts, making Draco look like the bad guy in the process.

He finally looked back at Lucas, taking in the older boys smirk so identical to his own and then huffed. He'd ruined it all now- there was no way he could redeem himself.

"Stay out of my way," Draco threatened, picking up his schoolbag. He stalked out of the hall angrily, shoving the door open with as much force as he could, and then slammed it shut. He didn't care whose damn door it was or if he'd even broken it- people needed to know that he was unhappy at this predicament.

Draco slammed his feet on the stairs, hard, as he made his way up them to his first class. He could only hope now that his brother was transferred to Durmstrang or something now.

* * *

So, let me know what you thought about the first chapter! Do you like the name 'Lucas' for Draco's brother?

Also, I'd like your opinions on something, what sounds better, for a title to this story?

**The Shadow Boy **or **The Shadow Brother**

I'm not too sure, I like both. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and please, if I've made any grammatical errors then let me know!

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does!

**Song: **Just like you by Three Day's Grace (Sorry that the first two artists are the same, their lyrics are just really good!)

**Explanation: "You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you. You thought you were there to guide me, you were only in my way, you're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you." **Draco refuses to be just like his brother; it makes him feel sick that he's even related to him.

* * *

Many hours later, just after dinner, Draco lay in his bed, staring up at his ceiling, with his arms behind his head. The anger had left his body for now, but it was still inside his mind.

All people had done throughout the day was compare him to his older brother and he _hated_ it.

He couldn't even believe that bastard had the nerve to show his face in Britain again. After everything that he'd put his family through, he was back to take everything that they had left.

Draco sighed and roughly got out of his bed, deciding that an evening with his friends would probably cheer him up. He was making his way down the stairs from his dorm when he caught the end of a conversation.

"Yeah, he is a bit of an idiot, isn't he? Could never contain his anger. Even as a child, he'd charge at me like some sort of bull when he didn't get his way,"

His statement was followed by the unmistakable sound of Pansy's laughter.

* * *

Hermione couldn't believe all the hype that was going on concerning the Malfoy brothers. Quite frankly, she couldn't care less about either of them. Draco was cruel, so Lucas was bound to be cruel as well. Why were people so excited about that? Having another bully in the school? It was unnecessary, boring and annoying.

Especially all of the girls that sat and _gushed_ over the guy. It was like they'd been awarded a pile of gold! To Hermione, it was pathetic. She hated the way girls acted now a days- skirts around their thighs the size of a _belt_, shirt buttons open wide so that you could see their cleavage, robes open wide so that you could see through their transparent shirts, some were even wearing heels! Hermione didn't know how they could do it.

She arrived at Potions in a joyful mood; nothing bad had happened to her, so there was no reason _not_ to be happy… right? She bounced over to Ron and Harry and took a seat beside them, getting her notes out quickly.

She rolled her eyes as everyone turned around dramatically, as she just _knew_ what had happened. Either Lucas had walked in, or Draco had walked in. She turned around, and confirmed her suspicions as Draco Malfoy sat behind her, looking as if he'd had no sleep for three days straight.

He set his chin on his fist and blew out a sigh, glowering at her when she turned around to look at him. She was just as judgmental as all the others.

Hermione shook her head, still misunderstanding what was so special about Malfoy having a brother. In fact, for her, it cleared up a lot of things, like why Draco was so selfish and almost cried when he didn't get his own way.

"Settle down, children!" Snape shouted in his monotonous voice. He was just about to begin when Lucas walked in the door, smiling angelically because he knew he'd be let off with being late, seeing as it was his first day. Snape sighed, clearly annoyed at being interrupted and frowned at him.

"Just because you're new doesn't mean you are exempt from being here on time, Mr Malfoy, now sit. Down."

"Sorry, I won't be late again, Snape," Lucas grinned cheekily and sat next to some Slytherin's, enjoying the girls lustful stares.

"That's… Professor, to you." He said. Leaving no time for Lucas to answer him, he continued. "Today we will be brewing the elixir to induce euphoria. It's a very lengthy potion process so whoever you are partnered with, get used to, because you will be working with them for a week on it. I don't want any dillydallying."

Snape took the classes silence as an agreement and grabbed his parchment register from the desk behind him, beginning to partner people.

"The elixir to induce euphoria? We've already brewed that potion…" Hermione complained, turning to Harry.

"Yes, but we brewed it with Slughorn, not Snape," Harry cleared up for her. She nodded, muttering an 'oh' and calmed down a little.

"Last time it melted my spoon," Ron said sadly.

"That's because yours was too hot!" Hermione and Harry both exclaimed at the same time. They chuckled afterwards.

"Potter, Parkinson, sit over there," Snape said, pointing to a desk up the back. Both complied with no problems, figuring that they could've done worse.

"Granger, Malfoy, sit up there," He said in the same voice, moving onto the next couple.

"Um…" Hermione muttered, turning around. _Draco_ Malfoy sat behind her, but then she looked across the room and there was _Lucas_ Malfoy. Which one was Malfoy now?!

"Sir, which one?" Hermione asked confusedly.

Snape turned around, annoyed by her question and was about to remove points when he remembered that she was absolutely right. He'd forgotten that that brat had come to Hogwarts. On a whim, he waved towards Lucas and muttered 'that one.'

Draco sighed. He was even second best to Snape now!

"Weasley, the other Malfoy," Snape said.

Oh great, now he was known as 'the _other_ Malfoy,' fan-_fucking_-tastic.

With a groan he got up and moved to the row in front to sit with the Weasel. He sighed when he dropped his books and thumped himself into the seat, begging for the day to just get any worse.

"Y'know… I know how it feels," Ron suddenly muttered to him, looking straight ahead. Draco turned to him with a frown, wondering where the hell he'd gained the authority to tell what Draco was thinking.

"What?" Draco replied. Ron finally turned to him, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"I have to compete with all my sisters and brothers all the time," He said.

Draco scoffed at him. "You have no idea what you're talking about, Weasley," He said, ending the conversation. He looked around the room as he waited for everyone else to be paired up and glanced at his brother, attempting to flirt with Granger. Draco snorted softly to himself; nobody could seduce her, she was different. She was like a lolly pop stick- frigid until someone snapped her in half.

"So, how do you know Draco then?" Lucas asked her. Hermione frowned at him, but smiled politely anyways.

"Well… here, obviously, we go to school together," She chuckled, getting her things together. She bent over slightly to throw her bag underneath the table, just missing Lucas licking his lips.

"Do you get on very well with him?" He asked, staring at her neck. Hermione turned to face the desk so that she could get the cauldron ready.

"No. Draco and I have never seen eye to eye. I'm a Mudblood to him," She said rather sadly, sighing. Lucas frowned.

"That's a silly reason to hate someone," He said, frowning and laughing at the same time. Hermione nodded towards him.

"Yes, it is. I just wish he knew that, but he doesn't. Instead he acts like a child,"

Lucas chuckled. "You can say that again. He shouldn't hate you, you're gorgeous," He said, smirking, but when Hermione turned around, he was smiling sweetly at her.

Hermione blushed slightly. "Oh, okay." Was all she said. Lucas frowned at her, wondering why she didn't wrap her arms around him and kiss him senseless. That's what all the girls done- and Hermione Granger would be no exception.

He smiled despite his now dampened mood and looked up, noticing Draco's stare. He couldn't quite tell what he was feeling, but he knew it was something negative.

"I don't think Draco hates you at all, actually," Lucas smirked, a plan forming inside his head. Draco frowned at his brother, wondering what the hell he was up to, before he put an arm around Hermione's, pulling her close.

"What do you mean? Of course he hates me," Hermione asked. She froze once Lucas put his arm around her.

"Oh no, look at him. Look at that jealous stare," Lucas breathed down her cheek. Hermione looked up at Draco and frowned- he was looking, and he did look jealous, but why? Hermione politely took Lucas's arm and dropped it from her shoulders, showing her discomfort. Draco smirked at his brother, silently thinking,

_See? Told you Granger was different._

* * *

**Another quite short chapter. Sorry for the length- the chapters will definitely be getting longer, but I am just so tired right now that I can't even write any more. I wanted to put this next chapter up though, because I've given myself a strict schedule regarding my stories. :-)**_  
_

**I hope you enjoy!**

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does, I'm just playing with her characters!

**A/N: ****PearlAmor,** epikhippo, **23Nelly, **lavonne1962, **hurricaneMania142, **Rika Darkblade, **XDramioneLoverx, **alwayssecondbest21, **Hermioniac = **Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews. If I've spelled any of your names wrong then let me know!

**Song: **Best of you - Foo Fighters

**Explanation: "I've got another confession to make, I'm no fool. Everyone's got the chains to break, holding you, were you born to resist, or be abused? Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?" ** Hermione wonders if she'll be able to resist Lucas/ If Lucas is taking advantage of her best trait (Naivety in this story) I.e he's getting the best of her.

* * *

"Oi! Granger!" Draco shouted impolitely, jogging after her. She turned around, shocked to see that he was calling her name and waited until he spoke.

"Stay away from him," Draco said bluntly. Hermione backed up a little, surprised at his honesty and his warning.

"And why should I do that?" Hermione asked. She didn't really care for the boy, but she wanted to know why his brother didn't want her to go near him.

Draco frowned at her. "I don't need to give you a reason, Mudblood, just stay away from him if you don't want fucked over."

Repulsed at his wording, Hermione curled up her lip in distaste and swallowed before replying, "Fine. Unless you give me a proper reason, then I won't stay away from him," She said snootily, before she turned on her heel and left. Draco's brow creased slightly and he rolled his eyes. Granger was supposed to be the smart one, and now even _she_ was falling for him.

He pushed himself off of the wall, forgetting when he'd even leaned on it, and followed her, making his way to DADA.

When he got there, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. There was a very clear circle of students, all crowding around one person who was telling an _oh so exciting _story. Three guesses who.

Draco was thankful for the teacher's early arrival (although he only came early to open the doors, and then went away to find some textbooks) and went in after the crowd, prepared to sit in his usual seat, when he was frozen to his spot.

That absolute _bastard_ had stolen his seat. _His_ seat that was in between Pansy and Blaise, it was where he'd _always_ sat. Draco saw red, as he knew what Lucas was up to, and marched towards his back, his feet slamming loudly on the floor. He briefly noted Granger's worried glance between the two but ignored her, heading for his target.

With a strong fist around Lucas's collar, Draco dragged him off of the seat, letting him go when he was finally on the ground.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Lucas shouted. Draco raised his eyebrows at him and smiled sweetly.

"Oh, you didn't know? This is my seat,"

"Not any fucking more it isn't!" Lucas shouted, getting up. He got up so fast that before people even knew what was happening, Draco was on the floor in front of him, blood at his nose.

"You'll fucking pay for that one, Malfoy," Draco growled, getting back up. The two had a glowering match and then, when he least expected it, Draco planted one right on Lucas's jaw.

The dirty blonde staggered back, one hand holding his jaw, one hand steadying himself across the table behind them. People began to chant 'fight, fight, fight!' and created a circle around the two.

Lucas went to punch Draco again, but Draco grabbed his fist, moving his head out of the way. As Lucas was drawn closer due to the law of physics, Draco brought up his knee, and landed it in an _oh-so-sore _place.

Lucas grunted painfully and leaned over, his hands pressed between his legs. Draco smirked; glad that the bastard had gotten what he deserved, and then chuckled a little, enjoying his brother's pain.

In a flash, Lucas raised himself once more, taking Draco completely off guard, and grabbed a fist full of Draco's platinum blonde hair. Draco growled in pain, clutching at his brothers hands, before his head was slammed against the edge of a table, making him lose his sight.

He dropped to the floor with hazy eyes, seeing blobs in front of him where people were staring down at him. Lucas didn't stop there and grabbed Draco's fringe, mimicking his previous move, and slammed the back of his head onto the cold stone floor.

Draco winced and hissed, his hands going up to his now bloody-blonde hair. He didn't have enough time to roll over and received a kick in the stomach. He felt his own body jerk and curl involuntarily into the fatal position. He'd just regained his eyesight when he saw the bottom of a shoe coming down on his face and quickly rolled over, saving himself from a footprint on the face.

"Stop it! Can't you see you've done enough to him?! STOP IT!" A girl screeched. The circle opened slightly and through the gap, Hermione Granger was visible. She looked down at Draco and then up at Lucas, giving him a glare that could send even Voldemort shivering, and then dropped down on the floor next to Draco.

She grabbed one of his arms when he tried to push her away and touched his nose slightly, wincing when he groaned in pain.

"Your nose is broken and you could have a concussion. You might also have internal bleeding. Malfoy, I'm gonna have to take you to the hospital wing," Hermione said soothingly, pushing his fringe away from his forehead to see the damage on his head. Draco swallowed thickly, tears coming to his eyes because of the pain and wished he could just disappear.

"You must be mad; he doesn't deserve to be patched up, he's the one who started it."

There was an awkward silence as everyone took in Lucas's words. Sure, they all loved him, but that was incredibly harsh to say about your brother.

A groan brought all of their attention back to the floor and Hermione turned back to Draco also, fear rising up in her throat when she saw his eyes closing over.

"No, Malfoy. You _must _stay awake, you hear me?" She said, slapping his cheek. He woke up slightly and nodded, frowning at the pain once again.

"Don't bother saying that to him, just let him die, who the fuck would care anyways?" Lucas said casually, putting his hands in his pockets. A few people stifled their laughs, but dropped them the moment Hermione turned around to look at him, quicker than lightning.

"How dare you?! You disgusting prat. You just beat up your own flesh and blood and now you're telling him to die?! I don't usually react to imbeciles like you, but you, my friend, can _fuck. Off." _

There was an audible gasp and some people even put their hands over their mouths in shock and amusement as Hermione granger had sworn, and _angrily_. Lucas's smirk dropped at her language and he looked as if he might beat her up too, but then he shrugged, smiled and walked away.

Hermione turned her attention back to Draco once again, lifting up his head onto her lap. She then got up herself and dragged him so that his torso was leaning on the side of a desk, and then, with great difficulty, she pulled him up and staggered when he relied on her with all of his weight. Hermione shook her head, unable to understand why nobody had even defended Draco, and sent them all a disgusted look.

"Yeah, thanks for all the help, you guys." She said, before she turned away, muttering 'it'll be alright, Malfoy.'

* * *

"Oh, my lord, you dear boy!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, ignoring a patient to come to Draco's rescue. She helped Hermione haul Draco over to a bed and closed the curtains quickly- even _she_ knew of the gossip in Hogwarts.

"What happened, dear? Tell me everything," She said, sitting in a bed beside Draco. She began to clean his wounds as Hermione spoke to her.

"His brother and him got in a fight and I'm afraid to say that Draco got the worst of it- he was kicked in the stomach, had his head slammed against a desk, and the ground, and was punched in the face."

Madam Pomfrey gasped, dabbing little balls of cotton wool onto Draco's forehead. "Oh, such violence! It's despicable. Do you need to go back to class dear, or do you think you could help me with this? I'm afraid I haven't seen anything like this since the nineteen eighties."

"No, no. I can help you; just tell me what to do." Hermione offered politely with a smile. Madam Pomfrey passed her some cotton balls and solution.

"Here, you clean his nose. If we can get the cleaning process done faster then it'll be easier to heal his injuries."

Both women got to work, and Draco _w__ould've_ felt like the luckiest guy in the world, having two women gush over him and worry about him, if it wasn't for his aching body.

Once Draco's face and forehead was free of blood, Madam Pomfrey got to work on his nose. She touched it and moved it around a bit before sighing with relief.

"Well, thank goodness he won't need surgery! I should be able to fix this with a simple spell,"

She muttered an 'Episky' and then went to his head, casting a soothing and no-pain charm on it, before she opened the bottom of his shirt and put her wand to his stomach, casting a spell that would make the tip of her wand go red if there was any internal bleeding.

"Hmm, doesn't look like there is any ribs cracked, or internal bleeding, just a lot of bruising, he's quite lucky. Looks like he received an extremely hard kick to the kidneys… poor boy,"

"Will he be alright? Do you think I should tell professor Dumbledore about it?" Hermione asked wearily. Madam Pomfrey seemed to think for a moment.

"I actually think you should tell professor McGonagall about it; she'd probably give him a better punishment,"

Hermione nodded, took one last look at Malfoy, and then left the hospital wing. She tried her best to get back to class quickly so that she could get her things and head straight to McGonagall's.

Awkward wasn't the word as she opened the door and walked into the classroom. Every single pair of eyes was on her, but the only ones she was aware of were Harry and Ron's. They looked at her with such betrayed expressions, as if she'd become a Death Eater herself, and said nothing. Shaking her head at their immaturity, she packed her bag quickly and then excused herself again, making her way to McGonagall's office.

McGonagall's office had always interested her- it was much like the office that she hoped to have one day. Organised, clean, tidy and simple. She muttered the password and walked up the stairs, glad to find the professor sitting doing some paperwork.

"Miss Granger," McGonagall smiled. "How lovely to see you, what can I help you with?"

Hermione returned the smile and folded her skirt underneath her, sitting in the chair opposite McGonagall. She didn't know quite how to start off…

"Well, I was going to tell professor Dumbledore, but then Madam Pomfrey said that you'd be better at… handling the situation, so I just came here. Today, in DADA class, Lucas and Draco got into a massive fight," Hermione bit her lip. "And now Draco's in the hospital wing with quite bad injuries."

McGonagall's smile quickly faded and a shocked expression adorned her face. "Well, is the boy alright?" She asked, getting up and shuffling around the table.

"I think he will be, his nose was broken and his head was quite badly damaged and he received a really bad kick to the kidneys but other than that I think he's fine," She explained quickly.

"Oh, goodness." McGonagall breathed. She went over to her rather large bookcase and picked searched for a book, whilst muttering, "I always knew that boy would be trouble,"

Hermione waited patiently until McGonagall turned back around, now holding a book which Hermione could clearly see was called 'CORRECT PUNISHMENTS.' She wondered what would happen to Lucas briefly and hoped that he'd be given a fair punishment.

"Do you know why they started arguing?" McGonagall suddenly spoke up. Hermione was drawn out of her thoughts as she tried to remember.

"Yes… Well, it's quite… weird, really. Draco kind of started it, but then again, Lucas started it." Hermione shook her head, seeing the teacher's confused expression. "Lucas sat in Draco's chair and he must've got angry, because he dragged him off of the seat, and then Lucas punched him in the face. It just kind of spiralled out from there,"

McGonagall nodded quickly and ushered Hermione out of her office, preparing to go to the hospital wing to get Draco's end of the story. Her robes billowed out behind her as she near enough jogged to the infirmary, making Draco her priority. Hermione turned around and walked up the corridor, clutching her wand close to her when she saw a dark figure leaning against the wall up ahead.

As she got closer she became aware that it was Lucas and gripped her wand even tighter. She had noticed the way he looked at her after she'd angrily shouted at him and was now weary of the boy, noting that if he was as smart as Draco, then he'd be pretty good at spells.

She kept her eyes trained on the staircase in front of her, trying her best not to look at him. That smirk that he kept on his face all the time, that confident swagger- it drove her nuts. Draco was cocky, but Lucas was just plain _big-headed._

"Alright?" Lucas asked quietly, beginning to walk with her. Hermione kept her chin up, still staring at the staircase and continued to walk.

"I believe you're asking that question to the wrong person," She said curtly. It didn't falter Lucas's smile and he shifted a little closer to her.

"I'll apologise to my little brother later," He grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop and stare at him. "But right now, I'd like to apologise to you," He smiled handsomely.

Hermione looked at his smile, back up to his eyes. He seemed extremely genuine, but she just couldn't help but fear the boy.

"Apology accepted," She said quietly. Lucas smirked slightly, brought her hand up to his mouth, and then kissed it. Hermione's cheeks burned and despite her slight hatred for the other Malfoy, she found him attractive in that moment.

Just when she thought he'd stop there, he dropped her hand and lifted his own to her face, dragging his thumb across her cheek. Her breath caught in her throat and her skin tingled.

"You look adorable when you blush," He said huskily. Hermione looked away, finding the intensity in his stare too much. He had the same grey eyes as Draco, and it made her extremely uneasy. Despite him having a darker hair colour, which she guessed was dyed; his face was near enough the same. They could've passed as twins. That wasn't that bothered her though, what bothered her was that she didn't know if she was admitting that _Lucas_ was good looking, or, horrifically, if _Draco_ was.

She swallowed thickly and blinked until she could control her emotions –and her body temperature- and then walked away quickly, ignoring anything else he had left to say. Lucas smirked at her back; oh yes, he'd have her.

* * *

**A longer chapter today! I hoped you enjoyed this one.**

**Again, thank you guys so much for the great feedback I've had on this story so far, I appreciate it so much!**

**Let me know if you find any mistakes! **

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Harry Potter!

**A/N: **So here's the next chapter! I'm updating pretty quickly, aren't I?

Major thanks to **hurricaneMania142 **who reviewed my last chapter! And you're very welcome! Your guess at what Lucas did to make his family hate him might be right, we'll soon see!

**Song: **Can't say no - Conor Maynard (Bit of a genre change, I know)

**Explanation: "Wasn't lookin' for trouble, but it came lookin' for me, I try to say no but I can't fight it/ Can't say no/" **Hermione wasn't interested in Lucas and would actually rather he didn't come near her but he always seems to appear wherever she is, and she finds herself unable to say no to him.

I know a lot of people compare this kid to Justin Bieber, but come on, it's a catchy song!

* * *

"Draco, mate, are you alright? I came down here as soon as I could,"

"Oh, yes Blaise, I'm just fucking fabulous." Draco replied coldly. Blaise sighed sadly and sat in the chair next to his bed. He dropped his schoolbag from his shoulder and unzipped it, producing Draco's homework.

"Picked up all your work for you," Blaise offered, handing it to him. Draco sighed and then looked at him.

"Thanks, I didn't mean to shout at you." He looked at all the homework he had and then put it on his desk beside him. "So what happened after I left?"

"Well, nothing really, everyone just got on with their work as if nothing had happened. It was really weird; some people even congratulated the cunt," Blaise said, raising his eyebrows. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Great, they're already applauding him for the fact that he beat me up,"

Blaise looked at his friend with sympathy. "They'll all see how much of a dick he is soon enough, mate. He can't go forever acting like he's innocent, he'll do something and then everyone will really see the true him," Blaise nodded. Draco raised an eyebrow at his friend's choice of words.

"Since when did you become a little girl, Blaise?"

Blaise frowned at him and then chuckled. "Been around Pansy for too long,"

The mention of Pansy made Draco angry once more and her laugh at what Lucas had said to her echoed in his mind. He cleared his throat.

"Yeah, Pansy," He laughed, but there was no humour.

Blaise noticed this and shrugged, offering the first thing that came to his mind. "She'll soon see how awful he is too, Drake,"

"But that's the thing!" Draco suddenly exploded, letting all of his emotions out. "She already knows about what he's done but still, she's giggling away at every little thing that he says. She's such bullshit," Draco cursed, looking away.

"I know." Blaise agreed. "I think she just likes him because he's the closest thing that she can get to you,"

Realisation dawned on Draco and he sighed. "Lucas won't go after her either, though, she's just setting herself up for disappointment,"

"Yeah, she knows that, but look at how long she spent running after you," Blaise chuckled.

Draco shrugged. "S'pose,"

There was a comfortable silence before Blaise broke it, stammering slightly. "Listen, I'm sorry I didn't… jump in or anything… I didn't think it would become as serious as it did… and I have a sister… so I don't really know how brotherly fights work and-"

Draco was slightly touched, but he'd never admit it. "Shut up, Blaise." He smirked. "It's alright; I didn't expect anyone to jump in for me,"

"Granger did, though. Well… she did kind of. She backed you up, brought you here. I wish you were conscious, mate! She told Lucas to _fuck off!_ Can you believe it?! Hermione Granger?!" Blaise slapped his knee. "It was brilliant, mate, you shoulda been there."

Draco squinted at Blaise. "She didn't say that, she's a prude, she wouldn't even say the word 'bloody',"

Blaise forced his face to be serious. "I swear she did! She called him a disgusting prat too, I believe, it was bloody hilarious. Everyone just gasped at her, anyway, point is, you owe her thanks, if I'm honest,"

Draco scoffed. "I'm not saying thanks to the Mudblood,"

Blaise drew back, his eyes wide, slightly amused. "But she saved your life mate, one more slam of your head against something hard and you could have permanent memory loss… or brain damage,"

"I don't care, I'm never ever saying thank you to her," Draco said, making his final point by folding his arms over his chest.

"If it wasn't for her, you could have internal bleeding, or sore balls… you never know, he could've hexed them or something," Blaise said, leaning back in his chair, folding his own arms, slightly cocky.

Draco stared at him for a moment before he rested his arms beside his own again. "Oh, fine! I'll thank her."

"I don't mean just saying 'thanks' to her and then walking away though, you need to really thank her," Blaise said, getting the most out of Draco's not-bad mood.

"Okay, okay! I'll bloody thank her, now go away, you annoying little prat," Draco said, rolling over onto his side. He heard Blaise laughing loudly and then retreating footsteps, and then his eyes dropped over, swallowing him into a dream.

* * *

"We cannot deduct house points from you because that would be punishing the whole of Slytherin and they are not all to blame, Mr Malfoy, so we've decided that you'll patrol corridors and serve detention in the library for a week. You'll also stop speaking to your brother unless you have something nice to say. Don't think I haven't noticed you provoking Mr Malfoy," McGonagall said sternly, looking at the tall boy. Lucas smiled back at her.

"I'll serve my punishment, professor McGonagall, not to worry." He said, before walking away. McGonagall watched him leave, her stern facial expression never leaving her face. That boy was trouble, he was trouble and she knew it.

* * *

"Do it now," Blaise whispered into Draco's ear. Both of them looked extremely peculiar, spying on Hermione Granger studying from behind a bookcase in the library.

"No, not now," Draco whispered back angrily. The last thing he wanted to do was converse with the Mudblood. And he'd only gotten out of the hospital wing half an hour ago! He could still be unwell!

"Yes now, Draco! Do it, you bloody prat," Blaise said, pushing him forward. He stumbled out from behind the bookshelf and then straightened himself up, pursing his lips when she looked up at him as if 'what the hell are you doing?'

He looked around quickly and ignored her, making his way to a bunch of books on a table. He looked down at them, clearly stalling for something and then sighed. He stalked over to Hermione's table, pulled out the chair in front of her, and sat down on it. He stretched his arms out in front of him, covering half her work, so that she was forced to look up at him.

Hermione breathed in deeply when she looked into his eyes- they were the exact same as Lucas's but for some reason, she wasn't so scared of Draco.

"Can I help you?" She finally asked, pulling her work from underneath Draco's long arms.

"I'd just like…" He started, before closing his eyes over and swearing. He couldn't believe Blaise was making him do this.

"To say thank you," He almost bit out. "Fortakingmetotheinfirmaryyes terday,"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "Wow, that actually looked painful for you," She said.

"Trust me, it was," Draco replied.

Hermione breathed in deeply and then sighed. "Well, Malfoy, you're welcome, I wasn't just going to let your brother kill you in front of everyone, and even I don't hate you that much,"

"Um, okay," He said confusedly, getting up.

He began to walk away, before he turned around and smirked- a smirk that she wouldn't admit, made her knees slightly weak now. "By the way, the answer to number three is nineteen forty six."

He stalked away arrogantly and Hermione huffed when she looked down at her homework, realising that he was correct. She glared at his back once more before rubbing out her original answer and putting his in its place.

"Well hello there, gorgeous," A voice suddenly called behind her, making her stiffen. She knew the voice, and she knew who it came from.

Regaining her composure, she straightened her shoulders and breathed out slowly.

"Hello, Lucas."

Instead of taking the seat in front of her, like his brother had, he took the seat beside her, brushing her arm purposely.

"Must you insist on being so polite all the time, Hermione?"

His name rolling off of her tongue made her want to flirt back, but something inside her told her not to. She followed her instincts.

"Yes, I must."

"Ouch, someone's being dry with me this morning," Lucas smirked. Hermione's stomach jumped, and she didn't know if it was good or bad.

She ignored him, and he didn't like it.

His smirk faltered slightly and he sneered at the side of her head, but he picked it back up quickly and leaned over her, pressing his body against the side of hers.

"What homework are you doing?" He asked, breathing on her hair. She swallowed slightly and continued to write.

"Ancient runes,"

"Oh, I hear that's a hard subject. What level are you doing?" He asked, not bothering to move, even though he was kind of hurting her arm now.

"The highest," She ground out, wishing he would move.

"Wow, you must be really smart," He whispered.

She wanted to laugh inside. Didn't he know who she was?! She was Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age.

Instead, she breathed unsteadily, alerting him of the effect that he had on her.

"I'm just exceptionally intelligent," She offered, chuckling slightly. He smelled amazing, and it made her dizzy.

She didn't even notice that he'd brushed her hair off of her shoulder and was now running his lips just over her ear. Her pencil was poised in her hand, ready to write, but she had no intention of writing anymore. She wished slightly that it was Draco, so that the element of fear would disappear.

"You're exceptionally beautiful as well, you know," He whispered into her ear, enjoying her reactions.

"I-" She stuttered. "I have to do my homework,"

"You don't _really_ have to do that y'know; we could do something else instead," He said, opening his mouth to lick behind her ear slightly.

Hermione jumped at the unusual coldness of his tongue and it snapped her back into reality. She leaned away from him and gathered her parchment quietly but hastily, not caring if some pieces got ripped. She stuffed them into her bag and stood up, turning to face him.

"I have to leave, sorry," She said, her cheeks flushed. She practically ran from him, leaving him smirking at her back once more.

Oh yes, he had all the power.

* * *

"You'll never guess what I just saw," Pansy slapped her bag onto the desk in front of the common room sofa, where Draco and Blaise were sitting and plopped into the chair in front of them. Draco was still slightly mad at Pansy, so he ignored her, and Blaise answered her.

"What?"

Pansy's eye flicked to Draco's, sensing his uncomfort with her and then directed the conversation to Blaise only.

"His big brother making a move on Granger," She nodded to Draco. _That_ grabbed his attention.

"He what? Granger? Are you sure?" Draco asked, shifting forward to sit at the edge of the sofa.

Blaise and Pansy shared a knowing look.

"Yeah, he was whispering things to her, but I don't know what, and then he kissed her neck or something, I think. After that, she shot up out of her chair like a bullet and ran away from him,"

"That prat," Draco swore, looking away. Blaise and Pansy smiled at each other again.

"What the hell are you two smiling about? This isn't fucking funny!" Draco fumed. Blaise lay back in his seat lazily, throwing an arm over the back of it. Pansy crossed her legs and folded her arms over her chest, adopting the same amused expression as Blaise.

"Nothing, it's just quite funny how Hermione Granger is suddenly so involved with your life,"

"Yeah, maybe it wasn't Lucas doing it, maybe you charmed your hair to be darker and that it was _you_," Pansy teased.

Draco spluttered. "What?! The Mudblood, are you kidding me?!"

Pansy couldn't help it anymore, and let out a full-blown laugh. "I'm kidding, it was definitely Lucas, he had that evil smile on, blegh." She mocked being sick.

Draco seemed to calm down a bit, but still looked almost frightened at the news.

Blaise noticed this. "Mate, if it gets any worse then you can just owl Lucius, he'll have him kicked out the school in a second,"

"If it gets any worse I will, but not right now," Draco said, getting up. He made his way to his room, desiring some privacy and sat on the edge of his bed.

He couldn't believe how fast his life had changed within the space of three days. It felt like he had an eviler twin who was manipulating everyone into thinking he was the good twin, but he wasn't. It was rather tiring, having to explain things to people and already he'd been beaten up by him. He was already becoming second best, once again.

And now Hermione Granger was involved- the girl he'd always envied, teased, and hated. He didn't like her, he didn't even care for her, but he didn't want Lucas to do to her what he did to him.

Sighing, he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it off before lying back on his bed, throwing his arms behind his head and crossing his ankles over one another.

* * *

Hermione stared, panting with a frightened expression on her face at her ceiling. She couldn't believe what she'd just done.

Year after year after year, she'd promised to never _ever _become a sexual person. Being sexual took the focus away from studies and it became a desire to human beings. It changed them, and she didn't want that.

But she just couldn't help it- it was done now, and if she was honest, her body felt better, but her mind did not.

What scared her the most was that it was _Lucas_ who had initiated it, but _Draco _that she thought of.

Dear lord, she'd just masturbated to the thought of Draco Malfoy! Her life was over.

She scrunched her eyes shut, trying to rid herself of the dirty thoughts she'd had not ten minutes ago and pulled back her covers, starting to get dressed. She'd go to Ginny- Ginny always knew what to do about 'girl stuff.'

* * *

"Hermione, that's perfectly normal," Ginny laughed. It was so hilarious! The thing that scared her best friend most was touching herself.

"No it isn't! Not to the thought of," Some girls walked past, so she dropped her voice to a whisper. "Draco Malfoy,"

"Yes it is," Ginny insisted, "Half the girls of Hogwarts have imagined him in their beds."

"What? Honestly?" Hermione was shocked. This was normality?

"Of course," Ginny said. "Lucas though, whew. I can't believe he done that to you, was it good?"

"No, it was… oh, I don't know," Hermione admitted, cringing.

Ginny laughed to lighten the situation "Well, well, who knew Hermione Granger would be torn between the two Malfoy brothers,"

* * *

**I actually cringe when writing "sexy" stuff, so I'm sorry that Hermione's "alone time" was not more detailed... XD **

**And if you didn't like the "alone time" part, then I'm sorry. I must suck at writing implications. *cries* **

**Nevertheless, let me know what you thought of this chapter! The next chapter should be up pretty soon, since I'm on a writing spree!**

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **The wonderful J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter, and I do not.

**A/N: Thanks to XDramioneLoverx for reviewing my last chapter! **

**Who's going to watch the closing ceremony of the Olympics tonight?**

**Song: **Resistance - Muse

**Explanation: "Love is our resistance, they'll keep us apart and they won't stop breaking us down, hold me, our lips must always be sealed." **Again, with the resistance thing. Draco learns Hermione is his soul mate but looks for excuses from his friends as to why she can't be his love.

* * *

"I so cannot be bothered with charms last period," Harry groaned, cracking his neck. Hermione winced at the sound of it and then moved behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders. She began to put pressure on certain points and rubbed roughly, making Harry groan.

"Ah, I was hoping you'd do this!" He said, grinning and leaning back. Ron sat in front of them and gave them an open mouthed smile.

"She is the best at massages, isn't she?"

"Well, I'll continue to do them as long as you both stop snapping and cracking your necks and fingers! It's disgusting!" She added. They both chuckled at her and she sat back down beside Harry, making sure she had learned her charms homework by making a tweeting bird appear beside them. It flew around the room happily, singing a tune.

She thanked Merlin that Lucas wasn't in her charms class, but feared the worst because, well, Draco was. It was like she could never get away from both of them- at least one of them was already around her. It was unsettling being next to a Malfoy constantly.

"We should get going now, we only have five minutes to get there," Hermione said, standing up. She was glad that she didn't need a bag for this class, since she didn't require notes, because that's all it was- charms. She only needed her wand, and it gave her back and shoulders a rest from carrying around her heavy book bag all day.

Harry and Ron agreed and they made their way to charms- she was so glad that they'd forgotten about the whole Malfoy infirmary thing, because she really couldn't be bothered explaining it. She'd told them that, since she was head girl, it was her responsibility to step in whenever there was a fight, and they left it, even agreeing with what she'd said.

Their charms class was small, which made the interaction between the students and teacher better. It was also a lot of people's best subject, simply because of that fact. Because there were not so many pupils, the teacher could spend an allotted amount of time with each pupil, ensuring that they would get the best grade.

Hermione sat in her seat at the edge of the table, Harry beside her, and then Ron beside him. On her right was Blaise Zabini from Slytherin, quite a nice guy, not as prejudiced as the rest of them, so she smiled at him, feeling happy inside when he smiled back.

"Who were you just smiling at?" Draco frowned. "Did I seriously just see you smile at her?" Draco asked from beside Pansy. Pansy leaned back as the two boys leaned across her to talk to each other.

"Whoa, calm down. You're acting like she's your girlfriend," Blaise replied, laughing. He laughed even harder when Pansy giggled at his comment. Draco huffed, not bothering to give them the 'she's not my girlfriend' speech for the millionth time and got out his wand, preparing for his work. Blaise and Pansy were still giggling, sharing weird looks.

The teacher stood up in front of the class and it became silent.

"Now, today, we're going to do a charm that's slightly similar to a potion you've probably heard about called Amortentia. I'm going to place the charm on this blanket and tell each student to come up and smell it, and then you're going to place the charm on your own blanket until you get the same smell. The name of the charm, ironically enough, is Amortentia, so, let's get started! If each of you will come and receive a blanket," Professor Flitwick announced. Everyone rose from their seats and grabbed for a blanket at the same time, almost knocking the poor man over.

Once everyone was seated again, he showed them the wand movements and made them call out the charm several times before casting it on the blanket in front of the class himself. Then, he called out each student alphabetically. It was a rather amusing lesson; some boys didn't even want to move away from the blanket because it just smelled so _nice_.

When it was finally Hermione's turn, she was excited to see what she smelled. She grabbed the blanket, pursing her lips and closed her eyes as she smelled, trying to decipher each scent and was surprised to see that it wasn't the same scent as last years. It was obvious last year that Hermione had smelled Ron, and that had comforted her, but this, this smell was completely different.

It was a rather sweet smell all around, but it was so… _manly_. It smelled like chocolate and honey, with a hint of expensive cologne and something akin to… danger. But it made her feel warm, at home, and safe. It was absolutely delicious. She almost drooled before professor Flitwick chuckled and called the next person up.

"How did it smell, Hermione?!" Ron and Harry pestered her, eager to know.

She laughed. "It won't smell the same as yours, silly. It smells of the one you love. Yours will probably smell like Ron, Harry," Hermione said, smirking slightly.

Harry looked from Ron to Hermione rapidly. "How?! We're not-"

Hermione chuckled. "Because Ginny and Ron stay in the same house,"

Harry calmed down a tad. "Oh, right… thank goodness for that," He said. They both looked at Ron, amused that he looked as if he was about to be sick with the images that Hermione had just forced into his head.

"This is bullshit, how is some blanket supposed to smell of the one you love?" Blaise laughed out loud. Draco shushed him, trying to hear in case his name was called. Pansy rolled her eyes and smiled at Blaise.

"It's not the blanket, obviously. It's the charm that makes the blanket smell like it. I read about it and apparently it doesn't only smell of the one you love, but it smells of your soul mate," Pansy sighed romantically.

Blaise raised his eyebrows at her before deeming it, "Bullshit."

"Draco Malfoy,"

Draco shot up out of his seat, walking slowly to the desk which held the blanket. On the way there, he smelled a hint of floral perfume that was pretty nice and hoped it would smell as nice as that.

When he picked it up however, he was shocked to smell that he'd already smelt this scent a few times before. Did that mean that his soul mate was somewhere here in Hogwarts? The vanilla smell reminded him of someone, but he just couldn't pinpoint who it was. There were also some undertones of light perfume, but the vanilla smell was just… heavenly. It smelled of a wife, not a girlfriend. It made him feel warm and fuzzy, and in that moment, he was relaxed, content.

As soon as he'd smelled it, it was over, and he was sad to go back to smelling fresh air and dusty old books.

"This is rubbish, I'm gonna be last!" Blaise whined. Pansy chuckled.

"No you're not, what about Anthony Zacharius?"

A look of realisation crossed Blaise's features and he fist pumped, making Pansy laugh harder. He liked making her laugh, for some reason.

"Pansy Parkinson,"

Pansy expected to smell Draco- she honestly did. That chocolate-y smell of his used to drive her wild, but she was shocked to find that what she smelled didn't change at all. Then she looked back at her seat, realising that the whole time, she'd been smelling Blaise. Her cheeks burned suddenly as she looked at him, feeling an awkward fire alight in her stomach. Blaise smiled at her, and she smiled back weakly.

"Harry Potter,"

As expected, all he smelled whilst shoving his face into the blanket was the blissful smell of Ginny… and unfortunately, Ron too. With the thought of smelling Ron in his mind, Harry put down the blanket before he was asked, and made his way back to his seat.

Pansy sat back down after Harry had, despite her being up before him, in a daze. The smell still wasn't gone- and it was because Blaise was there, right beside her.

"Ron Weasley,"

Ron, surprisingly, smelled something that he'd never smelled in his life. He looked back at Hermione sadly, not finding her scent anywhere in the blanket. He shrugged, deciding that maybe he was just unknowingly in love with someone else. It smelled kind of like toffee and coffee at the same time… a funny combination, but to him, it felt like… happiness…

He walked back, pleased with what he smelled and the trio discussed their scents.

Blaise was called up and suddenly Pansy took in a sharp breath, making Draco raise an eyebrow at her. He watched her silently, noticing how her lips were open in a small point, her eyes fixated on Blaise and he smirked. Finally, she'd moved on- and to a brilliant guy.

"You smelled him, didn't you?" Draco smirked. Pansy was snapped out of her daze and stared at him, shocked.

"What? No," She laughed, shrugging a shoulder, but it was a fake laugh, and Draco knew it. "I'm just… interested to see who he gets,"

Draco shrugged back, smirking. "That's too bad; he talks about you all the time,"

Pansy's head whipped around to face him. "Really?" She asked, her eyes wide. Her heart thumped in her chest and there were butterflies in her stomach.

Draco raised an eyebrow in amusement at her and she sighed, giving in. "Oh, shut up." She said, looking back at Blaise. She bit her lip gently and Draco smiled affectionately at her. In Draco's eyes, Pansy was a little sister, and Blaise was perfect for her. He'd keep Blaise in line for her.

Blaise walked back also in a daze and sat down beside Pansy, his cheeks interestingly pink through his olive skin. Draco covered his smile with a fist, finding the situation even more than amusing.

"Alright, now all of you try!"

There were moans and groans as students realised just how hard the charm was. It always looked easy when the teacher done it, but when they finally got to the task at hand, it was exceedingly difficult!

Finally, as predicted, Hermione shouted "Yes!" and everyone sighed, knowing that she'd completed the task.

Professor Flitwick looked more than pleased and took the blanket from her, smelling it. As he desired, the sweet scent of Professor Trelawney filled his nose and he blushed, giving it back to her as fast as he could.

"Excellent Hermione, ten points to Gryffindor!"

Hermione folded the blanket in front of her neatly, smelling it every so often to make herself swoon.

Draco didn't even have the choice. The moment he'd smelled the blanket to see if the charm had worked- he'd been hooked, and looked like he was using the poor piece of fluff as a gas mask. Pansy and Blaise were in hysterics looking at him, stalling in case their charm worked and they smelled each other again.

When the class was over, most of the students had mastered the charm with a little difficulty and only a few hadn't been able to do it at all. They were told to come back after classes so that they could work on it one-on-one with the teacher.

As they were leaving, Hermione turned around, telling Harry and Ron to hurry up, before skipping to the hall, eager to tell Ginny about the new charm she'd learned. Draco was just getting up when a girl whipped past him, the scent triggering in his nose again. His head snapped up and he turned around, but there were too many girls there to figure out which one it was. He sighed and left, reminding himself to place the charm on his bed at night.

* * *

"Don't let the fat lady fall asleep before I'm back!" Hermione shouted to Harry and Ron, closing the portrait behind her. They shouted back a muffled 'okay.'

Patrolling was rather boring to Hermione, but at least it was peaceful and if there wasn't someone who patrolled the corridors, then people would create havoc at night! She'd changed into jeans and a pink t-shirt for maximum comfort and had also put on a grey cardigan just in case it got cold. The castle was known for being chilly at night.

She'd been proved wrong as only thirty minutes into her patrolling she'd caught a young fifth year couple snogging in an abandoned classroom. She threatened to remove points from both houses if she caught them again, but mostly let them off with it, sensing their embarrassment and shame.

Other than that, it didn't get interesting until an hour in. Hermione had been patrolling for weeks and never had she felt as if she'd been being followed, but for some reason, she kept looking behind her, hearing weird noises and feeling a weird sensation like someone was watching her. She assumed it was Filch's cat, but when she whipped around to catch whoever it was off guard, she was proved wrong once more. A dark figure stood behind her and she yelped, jumping back, her hand immediately going for her wand in her back pocket.

Lucas grabbed her hand to stop her hexing him and smiled at her. "It's only me. I gave a sixth year into trouble and he seemed sketchy. He followed you for about half an hour, so I followed him as well, to make sure he didn't hurt you,"

Hermione calmed down immediately. "Oh, well… thanks," She said, turning away so that she could get on with her patrolling.

"Oh, you don't have to leave, do you?" Lucas called after her. Hermione turned around to stare at him, remembering what had happened the first time they'd been together and shook her head.

"Yes, I do. I still have the astronomy tower and the whole of the seventh floor to patrol," She said, beginning to walk away again.

"Well, you won't mind if I come with you then? I'm on patrol too and I wouldn't want you to bump into that nasty sixth year,"

"Was his name Randy Vicker?" Hermione asked, folding her arms and smirking.

Under her smirk, Lucas shifted a little. "Yeah, something like that," He said.

Hermione turned to leave again. "Well, I can handle him,"

"Still," Lucas grabbed her upper arm again, turning her around. "Let me come with you," He smiled at her handsomely. She swallowed, deciding that she hated that smile and sighed, dropping her arms by her side.

"Fine, let's go," She said, grabbing the banister to walk up the stairs.

Half way up the stairs, Hermione spoke again. "So why're you patrolling? I hardly think you're the right man to take care of everyone," She snorted.

He chuckled at her insult. "I got it as punishment for punching Draco,"

"And kicking him, and slamming his head against a desk, and slamming his head against the solid ground," Hermione added.

"Right, those too," He said, mesmerised by her.

Hermione turned around and caught him staring. Her smirk dropped and she stared at him expectantly.

"What is it?" She asked, moving into the seventh floor corridor.

"Nothing, you're just very beautiful," Lucas complimented. Hermione blushed, but said nothing. He was actually being nice this time, and Hermione enjoyed the nice Lucas compared to the always-smirking-Lucas.

A few minutes later, he spoke up again. "So, what do you think of Draco?" He asked, putting his hands in his pockets. He kicked a small rock slightly.

Hermione frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well… Do you think he's good looking?" Lucas squinted.

Hermione swallowed, remembering yesterday afternoon when she'd lay in bed, thinking of him.

She cleared her throat. "Uh, I suppose so. Most girls in here seem to think so,"

Suddenly, Lucas was in front of her, stopping her from going anywhere.

"But you," He laughed. "You're immune to his good looks, aren't you?" He asked, stepping towards her. Hermione stepped away from him, fear creeping back into her body.

"I don't know what you mean," She said. Lucas continued to walk into her until she was backed up against the wall. She shivered slightly as the coldness from the wall seeped through her cardigan and her t-shirt.

"You don't swoon like the others do," He said, leaning his forearm on the wall behind her shoulder.

"Of course I don't, I have better things to do than swoon over unattainable boys," She retorted. He sighed lustfully at her fiery demeanour and dipped his head towards hers.

"So, do you think he's good looking, or not?" He whispered. His hot breath hit her lips and she swallowed, feeling dizzy and faint again.

"Of course he is," Hermione almost whimpered. She wasn't full of lust this time- she was full of fear.

"Good," He breathed. "Because that, sweetheart," He ran his finger down her face. "Means that you think _I'm_ good looking,"

Hermione tried to calm herself by breathing through her nose, but her breath was coming out in short bursts rather than long, languid breaths.

She trained her eyes on the window behind him, trying to think of a plan.

He had other ideas.

He dipped his head further into hers and placed a kiss on her lips- it wasn't a nice kiss. It wasn't a nice kiss at all.

He was too rough, forcing Hermione's mouth open with his own teeth. Hermione struggled against him before she finally pushed him away from her.

"Get away from me!" She shouted.

He done nothing of the sort and pushed her back into the wall, keeping her hands trapped by her side with his own hands as he kissed and bit her neck.

"Stop it, get off me!" Hermione growled.

When he ignored her, Hermione shouted even louder, but she was beginning to panic- he was too strong for her.

"Get off of me!"

"Get your filthy hands off her!"

In a flash, someone raised their wand and stupefied Lucas, sending him sprawling to the floor unconscious. Hermione fell to the floor with him, as he'd snaked his arm around her waist and grunted at the pain that shot up her elbow.

Out of the darkness, a platinum haired boy handed his hand to her to help her up.

"Malfoy," Hermione breathed. She looked at him and then her eyes dropped down to his hand. "Thanks,"

He pulled her small frame up with ease and then sent a disgusted expression to his brother. Deftly, he levitated him and threw him in a broom closet, locking the door so that in the morning, he wouldn't get out.

Hermione swallowed. "What're you doing out of bed?" She asked. "If you don't have a good reason I'll have to deduct points,"

Draco smirked at her, and it was then that Hermione realised, she'd always thought he'd had the evilest smirk in the world, but now that his brother here, Draco's smirk wasn't even evil, it was… playful.

"I'm a prefect, I have patrolling duties,"

Hermione quickly blushed. It seemed that was all she was doing around the Malfoy brother's these days. "I haven't seen you patrolling before,"

"That's because I always avoid you," He laughed, and Hermione frowned at him.

"Well, I've still got the Astronomy tower to patrol, so if you will," She said, walking away from him. He noticed the tiniest of tears in her eyes and suddenly understood why she'd be scared and uneasy around him. His brother, for all he knew, had planned to sexually harass her, and he looked just like his brother.

He swallowed, suddenly pitying her, and walked after her.

"You go back to your dorm, I'll finish the patrols," He offered. Hermione wiped her eyes hastily when he'd appeared next to her.

"No, it's alright. Besides, they're my duties; I have to do them,"

Breathing in, Draco finally done something he'd never done before: willingly treated her like a normal person and offered her a favour.

"Seriously, just go to bed. You look tired and if anyone asks, I won't tell them you went to bed early,"

Hermione looked up at Draco, suddenly seeing him with a different opinion. She nodded slowly, appreciating it.

"Okay… thanks," She said, walking away. He watched after her, his mind reeling as he noticed the scent of vanilla, disappearing as she did.

Turning around, Draco's mind caught up with the reality of the situation.

"Fuck,"

* * *

**Oooh. So now, officially, both Malfoy brothers are after Hermione Granger!**

**What do you guys think Lucas looks like? Like, what does he look like inside your head? Do any actors come to mind when you think of him? I might post a picture of him on my profile if I find an actor who looks like how I imagine him! Would you guys like that, or not?**

**Please let me know if you find any mistakes and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**My chapters will start to get longer and longer, but they won't get so long that you won't enjoy reading them. They'll stay around 3000 - 6000 words. **

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

**A/N: **A massive thank you to **Genia, A Shadow Away, 23Nelly, hurricaneMania142, Bloody. 5507, XDramioneLoverx and Moogan-elicia **for reviewing! Your thoughts mean a lot to me and they motivate me to keep going, so thank you so much!

**Song: **I'm not calling you a liar - Florence and the Machine

**Explanation: "I'm not calling you a liar, just don't lie to me. I'm not calling you a thief, just don't steal from me. I'm not calling you a ghost, stop haunting me." **Hermione isn't sure if she can trust Lucas or not, and he's "haunting" her, as he keeps appearing out of nowhere and confuses her.

* * *

It was official: Hermione _hated_ Lucas. He was twice as bad as Draco! But considering Draco wasn't even _that_ bad anymore, he was about _ten_ times worse than Draco!

If he wasn't being a brat, then he was trying to get his way with her, which only made her feelings for _Draco_ rise. She didn't want Lucas or Draco, at all, and she never would! But when Lucas was making her feel the way she _really_ didn't want to feel; she couldn't stand the thought of it being _Lucas_, so instead, she thought of Draco.

Hermione had been proved extremely wrong. She'd assumed that because Draco _had_ been evil that Lucas would also be evil, but she was completely wrong. Having Lucas here emphasized how _un-_evil Draco was.

Also unfortunately for Hermione, having Lucas here made her realise what she'd been missing out on when she'd been hauled up in the library. Draco and Lucas did generally look the same, they had the same eyes, mouth, nose and frame (slim with muscles big enough to make you drool) but their attitudes and hair were extremely different. Lucas's face was also wider, but Draco's jawline was definitely more desirable.

She had the feeling that Lucas took a lot more care of his appearance. Everyone, including Draco, knew that he was naturally beautiful, so he didn't have to try so hard. Lucas, on the other hand, apparently worked out until he passed out, spent ages on his hair and even showered three times a day. Despite it being obvious that Draco felt like the shadow, Hermione reckoned that it was Lucas who wanted to be just like him.

Not only that, but Draco had been unusually nice to her last night, throwing her emotions everywhere. She suddenly despised the amount of Malfoy's who had come into her life so rapidly and threw her head on the table, unable to study because of boys.

Hah! Unable to study because of _boys,_ was this even Hermione Granger?

She groaned, wishing that none of them existed, or at least went to another school.

"What's up with you?" Ginny asked, plopping down in the seat beside her. Hermione sighed and brought her head up from the table, only to drop it onto her fist.

"Nothing, I'm just finding it hard to study," She said. Ginny's eyes went comically wide and she chewed on a small sweet.

"Alert the media! Hermione Granger can't study," Then, she bounced a little. "So, what's occupying your mind?"

Remembering the complete and utter humiliation that Hermione had felt the last time she admitted something about the Malfoy brothers to Ginny, she shrugged. "Just… other homework,"

"Well, what about the other homework? Is it difficult?" Ginny asked innocently.

"Um… kind of," Hermione said, talking about the brothers in her mind.

"Well, do you want to do it?" Ginny asked.

Hermione almost choked. _Did_ she want to do the Malfoy brothers? No… she only wanted to do one of them.

"Uh, I want to do _some_ of it," She admitted.

"Well, what part do you want to do?" Ginny asked, still not catching onto what Hermione was saying.

_The Draco part…_

"Um," Hermione coughed. "Just the… nicer bit?"

"Well how about you do the nice bit, and I'll help you with the harder bit?" She offered, smiling.

"Um… It's okay, Ginny. Really, it's alright. I'll be able to focus soon enough." Hermione replied, extremely wrong images floating around her head.

"Well, alright, but if you do need help then let me know," Ginny smiled. "I'm off to find Harry, d'you know where he is?" Ginny asked, frowning slightly.

"Um…" Hermione thought. "I think he'll be in the common room, or in the hall," She smiled, getting back to her work.

She waved Ginny a goodbye and then looked back at her paper.

_Ah, it's hopeless._

* * *

"Wait… what?!"

Draco looked worriedly into Blaise's large dark eyes.

"What?!" Blaise repeated, still in shock.

"Can you stop saying what and give me some advice?! Apparently my soul mate is the Mudblood!" Draco exclaimed, near tears.

"She's not that bad," Blaise comforted. "But… Just what?! Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy? No. No, it won't happen. It will _never_ happen; she hates your guts mate,"

"Thanks for making it sound like I want it," Draco rolled his eyes. "I need help, what can I do to stop this? Granger and I will never be together, we'll never even _like_ each other," Draco cried.

"Okay, okay," Blaise said, getting over his shock and becoming reasonable. "You said that you smelled it. Maybe, professor Flitwick done the charm wrong, and you did too, and that 'vanilla' isn't really the smell of your soul mate," Blaise offered.

Draco rejected the idea by shaking his head. "No, it's not that. Professor Flitwick would never get a charm wrong,"

Blaise sighed, and then his ears perked up again. "Maybe your soul mate _was_ there, before Hermione was, and you just smelled it from earlier that day…"

Draco considered this, swallowed, and then nodded. "Yeah, that'll be it," "

"But if we're wrong, and Granger _is_ your soul mate, don't look so torn up about it. She's gonna be worth millions when she leaves school and she's not _that_ bad looking, plus she's smart, funny, logical…"

"Then why don't _you_ date her, Blaise?"

Blaise's cheeks went pink. "Oh, um…"

Smirking suddenly, Draco replied. "Is it because of… _Pansy_?"

"No," Blaise choked, coughing and shifting on the seat in front of Draco.

"Okay then," Draco shrugged, pretending to drop the situation. It was a rather comical sight- seeing Blaise so uptight and awkward.

* * *

Lucas finally stumbled out of the broom closet, brooms falling out after him and making a harsh clapping sound on the floor. He ripped a bucket that he'd stood on from his foot and angrily walked away, not bothering to clear up his own mess.

That little shit, _Draco._ Thought he'd be all high and mighty and save little Granger from him. Well, not this time.

Walking through the corridors, Lucas began to realise that if he wanted everyone on _his_ side, he'd have to be an attractive candidate to them. He'd have to act _nice_. If he done his job right, Draco would be so worthless that he'd leave Hogwarts _willingly_.

Lucas smirked to no-one but himself, his new plan forming inside his head. He knew exactly how to win everyone over- he already was at an advantage, because of Draco's bad life choices last year, there was only _one _person standing in his way.

_Hermione Granger…_

The name sent shivers down his spine. Little Granger. So perfect, pure and innocent. Trapped in her own little bubble. If he could woo her, he could woo all of Hogwarts, and then Draco would be left with _nothing_.

_Nothing._

_Nothing._

The idea filled him up inside with the best feeling he'd ever felt and he headed to Slytherin common room, not bothering to wait until the time was right. He'd put his little plan into action straight away.

* * *

_Finally_ finishing her homework, Hermione stuffed it into her bag and then got up, hauling it over her shoulder. She winced slightly at how heavy it was, but shifted it up anyways and pushed in her seat, making her way back to the common room.

Just as she turned around from pushing in her seat, she jumped, seeing a boy leaning on the bookcase behind her. Fear and lust crept up inside her at once, when she noticed that it was Lucas, but that he looked… different.

His robes were nowhere to be seen and so he was simply donned in a white shirt, his Slytherin tie and black trousers. His hair, which had usually been dark blonde and down over his forehead, was now a light coppery colour (clearly dyed) and was tousled and sticking up, as if he'd ran his hand through it, but not fixed it.

He looked… fearfully delicious.

"Hermione," He smiled sweetly. Hermione swallowed, but done nothing, giving him time to explain himself.

"I'd like to apologise for what I did last night. It was extremely out of order and I'm partly disgusted at my own actions. I hope you'll forgive me, and that we can maybe start again where we left off? As friends?"

As much as Hermione was impressed with his apology, she stubbornly pushed past him, making him walk behind her.

"I hardly think we were friends, Malfoy,"

Lucas smiled from behind her. "Acquaintances then? Come on, we have to be something,"

Hermione looked him up and down once. He _had_ changed quite a bit… the usual expression on his face that said 'I'm malicious' was gone and he actually looked genuine. Hermione couldn't really tell if it was an act.

"We can be classmates," She reasoned. "We are, after all, working on a potion together for a week,"

"Thank you," He said from behind her. She turned around, almost startled, and took in a weak breath at the sight of him. He truly was handsome…

"You're welcome," She breathed. He smirked slightly, but there was no evilness in it, and walked towards her, pulling up her chin with his hand.

"You're blushing, miss Granger,"

Snapped out of her reverie, Hermione cleared her throat and looked away. "Yes, I'm sorry about that, it's…" She chuckled. "Hot in here,"

"Well, to get straight to the point, I'd like to take you out for dinner tonight, to make up for last night. You can even bring a friend, just in case you think I'm going to jump your bones again," He chuckled. Hermione raised an eyebrow slightly.

"I don't need protection from my friends, I can take care of myself," She said.

Lucas smiled back at her, making her knees weak. "I don't doubt that."

"I'll go to dinner, as long as we stay in the castle." Hermione reasoned. Lucas pretended to ponder this.

"Perfect, dress up nice, and meet me at the balcony on the third floor at eight," He winked, before he left her alone, mouth open wide, breathing erratically.

* * *

Draco had watched the whole thing, open mouthed. He couldn't believe Granger would be so stupid. Go out on a date with _him?!_ Draco felt a weird pang in his chest and throat, something he'd never felt before.

He felt protective of her. She was only little, and despite her being the brightest witch of her age, despite her being Hermione Granger, despite her saying that she could take care of herself, there was a little voice inside Draco's head that spoke the truth.

He knew that she could take care of herself, but _he_ wanted to take care of her. Something in his body, or mind, he didn't know, was emotionally attached to her and it scared him to no end. Part of him _needed_ her to be safe, part of him convinced his mind to go after them tonight, to be there for her, to protect her, to keep her _safe._

But he didn't consciously _want_ to. This was the Mudblood! It was _Granger!_ So… why did he feel like this?

A light flickered on in his head and his eyes brightened slightly.

Ah! It wasn't because he was in _love_ with the Mudblood; it was because he knew how much of an_ arsehole_ his brother was.

Mood brightened because he realised that he wasn't in love with the Mudblood, he strolled away rather happily, but couldn't ignore the voice inside his head that told him to follow them tonight, just in case.

_Just in case._

* * *

"How could she be such an idiot?! I mean, _Lucas Malfoy? _Is she mad?!"

Draco paced in front of Blaise and Pansy, who were smirking knowingly, throwing his hands in the air. He'd just told them moments ago about what had happened and to say they'd been shocked was an understatement, but still, the way Draco was acting was rather humorous.

"He's going to murder her or something! She's not going to arrive at class tomorrow, and then the teachers will make us all go on a hunt for her, and then we'll find her, bloody and broken on the floor of the balcony on the third floor and my brother will be gone, getting away with it, because that's what happened last time," He reminded them with wide eyes.

"He got away with it last time," Draco said sadly in a quiet voice. Pansy and Blaise's smirks dropped and they each went to his side, where he'd dropped down on the sofa. Pansy rubbed his back and Blaise crouched down in front of him, grabbing his hands away from his face.

"Mate, that won't happen again. I promise you- we'll go with you tonight, we can check on her, just to make sure. Be her unknown back up, sort of," Blaise shrugged.

"Yeah, Draco, don't worry. We won't let him get away with anything this time," Pansy soothed.

Draco sighed deeply. "Okay. They're meeting at eight- can we all be ready for then?"

* * *

"Why don't I have any nice dresses?" Hermione whined, going through her own closet. Ginny sat cross legged on her bed, rather against the situation.

"I still think I should come with you, I mean, look at what he done to Malfoy,"

"No, I can't have him thinking that he's powerful over me, Gin. He can't think that he has all the control," Hermione explained.

Ginny rolled her eyes. Hermione did have a good point, so she got up and searched her friend's closet, pulling out the dress that Hermione had worn to the Yule ball.

Hermione scrunched up her nose. "No, that's only for special occasions," She said.

Ginny nodded and put it back in carefully, pulling out a white knee-length dress that blew out at the waist.

"I thought you were only allowed to wear white at weddings?" Hermione asked wearily. Ginny sent her an unbelieving look and took the dress off of the hanger.

"Put this on, it's nice," Ginny ordered.

Five minutes later, Hermione returned from her bathroom with the white dress on. It wasn't too fancy, quite summary actually, which Hermione liked. She'd have to wear a cardigan over it, because it had rather small straps, but she didn't mind that.

"Okay, now we have to work on your hair!" Ginny said excitedly.

"What's wrong with my hair?!" Hermione cried desperately.

* * *

Hours later, at eight on the dot, Hermione walked cautiously up the stairs, making sure not to disturb any of the portraits who had gone to bed early.

When she arrived, she was rather disappointed to find that Lucas wasn't there- dinner was, however. There was a small, white clothed table, with candles and a rose out on the balcony. Hermione stepped forward guardedly, jumping when she felt a presence behind her.

"Don't worry, love, it's just me," Lucas said, smiling at her. He was dressed in the same as earlier, only his Slytherin tie was gone and he was wearing a black waistcoat.

Smiling, Hermione found nothing to say but, "This looks nice,"

"I'm glad you think so. I put quite a lot of effort into it,"

Embarrassedly, Hermione took a seat. "I hope I didn't cause any trouble," She said.

"None at all," Lucas smiled at her, pushing in her chair for her.

"So, what would you like to eat? I hope you don't mind, I've heard about your tendency to complain about house elves being treated unequally, so I'm paying them for making dinner tonight,"

Truly, _truly_ impressed now, Hermione couldn't help but smile and order her food.

* * *

"Fucking arrogant prat," Draco hissed, crouching behind a large gargoyle. Blaise stifled his chuckle and pointed at Lucas.

"What the fuck is he even wearing? He looks like a fucking gay,"

"What's wrong with gays?" Pansy asked, always being the logical one.

"Nothing," Blaise said immediately. "I just use it as an insult sometimes…" At Pansy's glare, Blaise cleared his throat quietly and smiled weakly. "I'll stop,"

"Shut up you two!" Draco growled quietly.

* * *

"So," Lucas said, holding up his glass of water, "What're you hoping to get in your exams?"

"O's obviously," Hermione giggled. "If I don't get O's I'll be extremely disappointed, I mean, I study every day, so…"

"I think you will get O's" Lucas smiled. Hermione blushed and looked down- how was it possible that someone could be so handsome? Now that he didn't look the _exact_ same as Draco, with his newly dyed light brown hair, it stopped her from gaining feelings towards him.

"Yeah, I hope so, I want to get the highest grade in school but Draco's always been not far behind me, so he's my main competition,"

Glad that Hermione was against Draco instead of with him, Lucas smirked. "Yeah, Draco's always been smart,"

Hermione raised her eyebrows, surprised at his compliment towards his brother when, just the other day, he'd sent him to the hospital wing.

"What?" Lucas asked, noticing her expression. "I know that my brother and I don't get on well, but I can't deny that he's smart when he's almost as smart as you, can I?" He winked. Hermione cleared her throat and chuckled slightly.

"No, I don't suppose you can. It's potions that I'm really worried about, he's amazing at potions, but when he has Ron on his side, I don't think he'll do very well," Hermione said.

Lucas shrugged. "Well, we'll see, won't we?"

"Yes, we will," Hermione smiled. "I don't know if I'm allowed to ask this… but, why do you and Draco hate each other so much?" Hermione asked carefully.

Lucas sucked in a deep breath and then smiled sadly. "He done something very bad when we were about thirteen, but before that, we'd always been… off with each other. We constantly competed, constantly argued," Lucas chuckled. "Drove our parent's nuts… that's why they sent us to different schools- I went to Durmstrang, Draco went to Hogwarts. The only time we met was in our fourth year, at the Tri-Wizard tournament- by then, this 'bad thing' had happened and so we just completely avoided each other, but in Durmstrang… Ah, I don't know, they just don't do things as well as they do in Hogwarts, so I begged my parents to let me go to Hogwarts, but they said no, and I couldn't legally leave until I was sixteen,"

Hermione nodded along to his story, very intrigued.

"I finished my sixth year at Durmstrang and then came here when the war was over, so that I could get the best of my education, but all those feelings, when I saw Draco, just came rushing back. I love my brother, I truly do, but what he did… I can't justify it. Nobody can justify it,"

"What did he do?" Hermione asked. Lucas looked into her eyes with a pained expression, and when he opened his mouth, Hermione couldn't help but gasp.

"He killed our little sister,"

* * *

**Wow, erm... *clears throat* Did you expect that? More to the point, do you really _believe _Lucas when he says that Draco killed their little sister? **

**Sorry for being absent a few days- I was going to update on Sunday night again, but I ended up watching the Olympic closing ceremony, it was really good! **

**As for yesterday, it's my birthday tomorrow (yay!) but my boyfriend goes back to school on my birthday, so I spent yesterday with him instead! **

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and as for the picture of Lucas- I think I'll upload one to my profile soon, but I want you guys to get a better feel for his character first! Can we trust him, can we not? You choose!**

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

**A/N: **A big thanks to **memorable1102, SasoriHime05, nicnak24 and hurricaneMania142 **for reviewing the last chapter!

**Song: There's no solution - Sum 41 **

**"Maybe nothing else will ever be so clear, or maybe that's only my fear, if just for one day I wish I could disappear, just take me far from here, maybe I'd find out nothing new, maybe I'd end up just like you, there's no solution, give me truth to my conviction, it's my own confusion, reality of fiction, am I out of my mind?" **- There's no way to bring Aerilyn back, and Draco wishes he could be with her, wherever she was, just to see if it would be any better than earth.

* * *

"How dare he say that?! HOW COULD HE?!"

Blaise and Pansy sat on sofas in front of Draco once more as he paced the room, angrier this time.

"HE FUCKING KILLED OUR SISTER AND NOW HE SAID IT WAS ME. THAT FUCKING PRICK, I'LL KILL HIM!" Draco raged.

"Get in the line," Blaise muttered. "I can't believe he said that. Did he really say that? I feel like this is a dream,"

"It's okay, we'll get through this," Pansy said, looking at both of her boys. "Hermione couldn't have possible believed him- even she knows you're not that cruel,"

"But she does! I bullied her for five years; she's not going to suddenly forget about it!"

"Maybe we could take her aside, convince her that it was Lucas who killed her," Blaise suggested. Draco fumed.

"No! I'm not going to run to her desperately- it'll make me look guiltier," Draco said, dropping onto the sofa in front of Blaise and Pansy.

"FUUUUUUUCK," He shouted. "I can't even believe this happened, how dare he say that!? I loved her! I LOVED HER. She was my baby sister and now he-"

"Draco, d'you want a soothing charm?" Pansy asked tentatively.

Draco shot up out of his seat and made his way out of the portrait. "No, I want to be alone."

* * *

Hermione frowned at the ground of the corridor. Draco had killed his own baby sister? Even when Draco had bullied her, Harry and Ron for five years, she doubted he'd do anything like that. Or maybe it was an accident. She believed Lucas, but thought he was probably exaggerating it slightly.

Still, she couldn't believe Draco had even _had_ a sister never mind _killed_ her.

Hermione bet she was beautiful, as every Malfoy was and felt slightly saddened and embarrassed that she'd feared Lucas at first. Was it Draco she should secretly fear? She didn't really have time to answer herself as fear crept up inside her body even at his name.

She sighed, deciding that she'd gotten the two brothers completely mixed up. It _was_ Draco that she should fear, he'd bullied her for years and then he'd duelled with Harry in the bathroom, _plus _there were rumours that he'd mingled with the Death Eaters during the war, but there was never any proof.

Even though Lucas had sexually harassed her, he was still…less trouble than Draco. And he'd apologised for that anyways.

But the Draco who'd saved her from Lucas- that was the Draco that she knew. He wasn't a killer- far from it actually.

Hermione sighed, her mind twisting and turning. Who should she trust? Should she trust either of them? She hated how she'd gradually come between the Malfoy brothers, it was so… sneaky that she'd barely even realised it before she found herself torn between the two.

This was so difficult! Why couldn't one be good, and the other be bad? That would've made it _much_ easier for her.

Or maybe she should just ditch the two of them- they were clearly no good for her. It was easy to ignore Draco- they weren't exactly friends, but it was difficult with Lucas. He was always popping up behind her, or in front of her. He was everywhere, and sometimes she got sick of him if she was honest, but he was still… nice.

Her earlier feelings had dissipated for Draco and for that she was glad- feelings for Draco Malfoy- what was she, an idiot?

Footsteps startled her and she desperately looked from side to side to find somewhere to hide. She opened the door to a random transfiguration classroom and went inside, hiding underneath the teacher's desk at the front.

She thought the person would just walk past, but her heart beat louder in her ears when she heard the door being opened, and then closed.

She put a hand over her mouth to silence herself, figuring that if she reached for her wand, it would make some noise and shuffled slightly to the edge to see who'd come in, before she heard them speaking angrily to themselves.

_Can't… believe him_

_How c…_

_Idiot_

_She's an… diot too_

_She was my by si… ster_

_ARGH! _

Hermione jumped and gasped audibly as the unmistakable sound of a chair snapping came to her ears. It sounded like someone was in a rage, and that they were going to tear the room up.

There was panting.

_I'll kill him._

Hermione's heart fluttered in her chest and she took a chance, glancing around the edge of the table to see Draco Malfoy leaning over a table, his blonde fringe covering his eyesight from her.

She bounced back around the table, her eyes wide and her chest heaving. Maybe she was wrong… maybe Draco wasn't opposed to killing.

Just as she was about to whip her wand out and stupefy him, her ears twitched as she tried to listen closer. Was he… crying?

She looked around again, taking a risk, and seeing Malfoy with his head in his hands, his back shaking, confirmed her suspicions.

She wanted to comfort him- she hated seeing anyone crying, but then he'd know that she'd been here the whole time, and that she'd heard everything he said. She'd have to wait here until he left.

Hermione pressed her back against the teacher's desk, Draco's sobs echoing off the walls. They both stayed there for longer than they'd like to admit.

* * *

"What do you guys think of Lucas Malfoy?" Hermione asked at breakfast suddenly, pushing her food around on her plate.

Harry chewed thoughtfully for a second. "He's alright- better than Malfoy, that's a fact,"

Hermione turned to Ron to get his opinion.

"Much better," Ron nodded in agreement.

Hermione sighed and squinted, looking over at Draco who was sitting at the Slytherin table, a dull, sullen look on his face. He had his head on his fist and didn't look interested in anything Pansy and Blaise were talking about.

"Now what do you think of Draco Malfoy?" She asked, still squinting at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

Harry almost choked on his food. "Well, he's a prat,"

Ron nodded in agreement again, enjoying his food too much to open his mouth.

"But don't you think there's more to him than just a high school bully?" She asked, looking at him peculiarly.

Harry raised an eyebrow and turned slowly to face Ron, who put his hand on Hermione's forehead.

"She's not too warm," He said to Harry. Hermione tutted and swatted his hand away.

"I mean. We've caught him at so many vulnerable moments, haven't we? He can't be _all_ bad, can he?" Hermione asked. Her friends' opinions were extremely important to her and she wanted their judgment before she got further involved with any of the Malfoys.

Harry, the reasonable one, folded his arms on the table and seemed to think about this for a second. "Well, I suppose… I mean, there was no proof that he was a Death Eater, but there were still suspicions. True, we have caught him at vulnerable moments but… he's given us crap for the last five years Hermione. Even if he _is_ a vulnerable person, he's vulnerable to his friends- not to us. Like you said, we 'caught' him at a vulnerable moment; we weren't supposed to see it in the first place,"

Hermione sighed, nodding. Harry was right.

She bit her lip. "Do you think… he'd ever have the guts to kill someone?"

Harry's eyes popped slightly open at her rather negative choice for conversation, but Ron chuckled.

"What? Malfoy? You must be havin' a laugh," He said. Apparently the thought of Draco killing someone was ridiculous to Ron; Hermione hoped he was right.

"Why all of the questions about him anyways?" Harry asked. "Has he said anything to you?"

"No, no. I was just wondering, he looks so… down today, don't you think?" She pointed at him with her fork. Ron budged to the side a little and Harry turned around, making Draco look up once he felt too many pairs of eyes on them. Harry and Ron looked away quickly, but Hermione held his eyes.

He looked shocked to see her looking at him, but Hermione couldn't help it. She tried to look away, she had, but her eyes just wouldn't obey. His clear grey eyes, which were usually stormy and strong, were now clouded with sadness and confusion. Hermione tried to figure out what he was thinking, but didn't find anything from his expression. He looked away quickly after their little moment, looking rather embarrassed.

Hermione looked down and then back up at Draco. Could he really be a killer?

* * *

"Blaise!" Hermione shouted, catching up with him after his lesson. She'd figured that the closest person to Draco was Blaise and that if anyone would know, it'd be him.

He turned around and smiled at her brightly, making her smile back. His smile was very contagious.

"Hermione, how's it going?" He asked, one hand plastered onto his chest because of his school bag.

"Hi," Hermione said, sounding rather out of breath. Truth was, she didn't know how to start off. "I just wanted to ask you something about Draco," She says.

Memories being triggered of last night, Blaise looked around worriedly before grabbing her upper arm gently and opening the door to an abandoned classroom with his other.

"What do you want to know about him?" Blaise asked, suddenly cautious and weary.

"Um… I was kind of on a… date with his brother last night and he mentioned something about having a sister…"

"Uh-huh," Blaise nodded along with her.

"Well, could you tell me what happened to her?" Hermione blurted out quickly. Blaise nodded curtly and then held out his pinky finger to her.

"You have to promise that you won't tell anyone I told you though," Blaise said seriously. Hermione nodded and brought up her own pinky finger, wrapping it around his.

Blaise took a deep breath,

_Draco was lounging lazily on one of the sofas in his library, reading to Aerilyn. She lay squished into the cushions by his hip and he lazily played with one of her pigtails while she rested her head on his chest. _

_Suddenly, Draco dropped the book onto his stomach, his finger still marking the page of the book. _

"_I don't even know what attracts you to these stories, Aer. They're just fairy tales, no man will ever say 'will you marry me?' to you, nowadays they just say 'let's get hitched," Draco mocked in a manly voice. Aerilyn giggled and got up, hitting his arm._

"_Draco! By saying that guys say that you're admitting that you'll say that!" She laughed. _

_Draco raised an eyebrow at her playfully and then lunged at her, ticking her sides. "Is that right? Is that right?" _

"_Oh, Draco!" Narcissa came in smiling. The two siblings stopped and turned to smile at their mother. _

_Narcissa picked up Aerilyn and kissed her cheek lovingly, turning back to Draco, who was getting up off of the floor, dusting himself off._

"_What were you reading this time? Another fairy tale?" Narcissa said, bending over slightly to look at the book that now been discarded by the floor. Draco bent over to pick it up and turned it over so that she could see the cover._

"_Yep," Draco smirked slightly, looking at Aerilyn. She hid into her mother's neck and whined playfully._

"_Mum! Tell him that fairy tales exist!" She said, pointing to him. Draco and Narcissa both smiled knowingly to each other._

"_Of course they're real, Draco," Narcissa smirked. She turned and walked out of the door, Draco following her. _

"_I bet that you will ask a beautiful woman to marry you one day, Draco. And she'll say yes! And then you'll have lots of little babies that look like me!"_

_Narcissa chuckled as Draco curled up his lip in distaste at the thought of marriage and stroked his hair._

_As they reached the bottom of the spiral steps, Narcissa let go of Aerilyn, who shouted 'daddy!' and ran into Lucius's arms._

"_Ah there's my little monster!" He shouted playfully, squeezing her into his chest. He let her go after a few seconds and then stood up to face Draco. _

"_And how's my best son?" He asked, opening his arms. Draco smiled and walked into them, slapping his dad on the back. _

_Away in the corner, a little boy with folded arms and more jealousy lurking in him than you could believe wiped a tear from his cheek._

* * *

"_What you doing?" Draco asked, plopping onto the bed beside Lucas's. Lucas had his arms behind his head. _

"_Nothing," He said very dryly. Draco frowned. _

"_You weren't there earlier when Dad got back from France," He observed. _

"_Indeed," Lucas replied. Draco's frown deepened and he shoved Lucas's leg off of the other one._

"_Come on, what's up?" He asked, sitting on the edge of his brother's bed. _

"_Nothing," Lucas shrugged._

"_What? Are you too old to give your dad a hug now?" Draco asked. Lucas finally looked at him and sighed._

"_You heard him. You're the 'best' son," He said, revealing his jealousy. Draco sighed sadly._

"_You know he only says that because I'm the youngest," _

"_No you're not," Lucas scoffed. "Aer's the youngest," _

_Draco looked at a loss for words. "I mean the youngest boy," _

_Lucas was about to speak, but Draco spoke first. "And if it's any consolation, you're my favourite boy of the family," He said, eyes wide and innocent. Lucas smiled._

"_You're my favourite too," He said, getting up to ruffle Draco's hair. _

"_I'm pretty sure you're Aer's favourite too," He said, flicking Lucas's hand away. Lucas smirked._

"_No I'm not, she hates me. Loves you much more," _

_Draco smirked. "Well, I am the better brother," _

_Lucas frowned, sensing the competition. "You are not! I'm the oldest, so I'm the best!" _

_Draco frowned now too, noticing the argument that was about to begin. "You don't even like Aer! I'm the best to her!" _

"_No you're not! I am!" Lucas shouted back. He pushed Draco off of his bed and stood up to face him. _

"_How can you be the best brother here when nobody even likes you!?" Draco shouted in desperate attempt to win the argument. Lucas drew back, the frown from his face gone. It was replaced by shock and heartbreak. _

_The minute Draco saw his face; he backed down immediately and touched his shoulder. "Lucas, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," _

_Lucas shoved past him, making him fall onto his own bed and slammed their door shut. Draco heard his footsteps descending before he heard another door slam. He sighed and fell back onto his bed, putting his hands over his eyes._

* * *

_Lucas sat up the back of an extremely dark theatre, sulking. This was his favourite place to go when he argued with anyone- he loved the acting, how it wasn't real. How it was dramatic- but it was acceptable. _

"_My parents are only depressed because they've lost a child," A girl on stage cried desperately. _

"_That doesn't make it okay to abandon their other children though!" Another actor shouted back at her._

"_But it was a tragedy! After my little sister's death, they were never the same! To either of us! It was as if we were to blame for her death!" _

"_Maybe you were," The other actor said in a dramatic whisper, turning to the audience. The curtain closed and everyone turned to each other for discussion. _

_Lucas licked his lips- was this true? That when a sibling died, the other two were finally treated as equals?_

_Driven with determination and jealousy, he swung out of the theatre and made his way home, the rain dampening his Malfoy platinum blonde hair, shading it a dirty blonde colour._

* * *

"_Lucas! Where have you been, sweetheart?" Narcissa asked at the timid head that'd just been stuck in the door._

"_Um, I just went for a walk," Lucas said, finally revealing himself. _

"_Well, come here boy, get some dinner," Lucius smiled at his son. Lucas smiled back slightly and took a seat beside Draco, who eyed him worriedly in case he told on him for earlier._

_He looked at Aerilyn briefly. Her small button nose, pouty lips and large grey eyes made her irresistible to anyone who looked at her. Her platinum blonde hair was up in two high pigtails, heightening her innocence and beauty. _

_He looked at Draco next, noticing how their faces were the exact same- so innocent and pale, same nose, same lips, exact same eyes. He wondered if he was the same- did he look like them too?_

_He sighed and tucked into his dinner, enjoying the time that he had left with his whole family._

* * *

_Hours later, Draco lay in bed, comfortably silent. His face was squished into the pillow and he wouldn't want it any other way. In his dream, he was older, and he'd just been awarded Quidditch captain of the year. _

_Smiling into nothingness, he sighed happily until he was awoken by a bloodcurdling scream that could only have come from one person. His eyes popped open immediately and he resisted the urge to blink many times from sleep- he had to see what was wrong with his baby sister. He ran to her room and the first thing he noticed was the knife in Lucas's hand- full of blood, and then he turned to his baby sister, who lay coughing and spluttering, almost lifeless, on her bed._

"_AER!" He screamed. Lucas began hyperventilating and backed away, dropping something in the process. He braced himself against a rocking chair in the corner of her room and watched on as Draco kicked a knife under her bed and then cradled her into his arms, crying and shouting. Not two seconds later, their parents were there, and he became a criminal._

* * *

"She died later in hospital," Blaise continued, his voice wavering. "They were able to stabilise her for a while, but her body couldn't handle it and she just… died,"

Hermione rested her hand on Blaise's on the table, having moved there in the middle of the story, and stroked it slightly.

"I've never seen Draco worse, he was depressed for days, months, years," He gave a very dry chuckle, but there was no happiness. "He's never been the same."

"I can't believe it," She whispered sadly.

"She was his world. The only girl who meant anything to him- they were inseparable. She cried every time he went to Hogwarts and he… he cries almost every night. Some nights I have to go in and he won't let me leave, so I have to stay there. He hugs me until he has no fluids left in his body- it breaks my heart, seeing my best friend like that, and it's all his fault. Don't believe anything that he ever tells you, Hermione. Please, just trust me on this one, Draco's not a killer,"

Hermione nodded, mind still hazy from the news she'd just had and then whipped out her wand, excusing herself from Blaise. He nodded understandingly and Hermione turned around, leaving the room to find Lucas.

* * *

**Oooh I wonder what Hermione is going to do to Lucas for lying! Or will he be able to 'woo' her again? **

**I changed the scene where Aerilyn dies because it was just way too violent and she was only a little girl when it happened- sorry that I had made it too explicit beforehand and I hope you guys like this version better. :( **

**-FallenForTheDraco **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

**A/N:** Thanks to **Genia, memorable1102, Love in the rain, hurricaneMania142 (you're very welcome for the mentions by the way!), XDramioneLoverx, SasoriHime05, ashnakayy, SlytherinGurrl, Nicnak24, Shay1010 and TheOneWithTheEyes **for reviewing! And thank you to everyone who has favourited this story and put it on their alerts, you guys are too nice to me!

* * *

In mere seconds, Lucas Malfoy's life had gone from comfortable and safe, to slightly frightened and cautious.

"YOU!" He was slammed against a wall, a wand pressed up against his chest.

"Hermione," Lucas chuckled. Hermione pressed her wand harder against his chest. She bore her teeth while she spoke and growled.

"How dare you! How dare you tell me that Draco killed your little sister when it was YOU?"

Lucas's eyes went wide before he spluttered. "No, no, it wasn't! It was him, I swear! She meant everything to me, I'd never do that to her!"

"You liar! I heard the story!"

"You obviously didn't hear the right one! Who told you?!"

Lucas's wide eyes and fearful expression made Hermione back off a little and she took her fist from his chest, still pointing her wand at him.

"Blaise Zabini," She said, almost challenging Lucas to say something bad about him.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Well, obviously he'll say it was me- he's Draco's best friend!"

Blaise couldn't have been lying. The emotion on his face… his whole story… there was just no chance that it could've been made up.

When Hermione didn't answer, Lucas desperately cried, "Give me some Veritaserum, I swear it wasn't me,"

"Use of Veritaserum on a student is forbidden!" Hermione said firmly. Lucas breathed out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Then how can I prove it to you?"

"Like I said, the use of Veritaserum is strictly forbidden,"

Lucas bit his lip in thought.

"A simple truth spell, however, is much more reliable, and allowed," Hermione said, almost smirking at him. "You have nothing to lose, if you have nothing to hide."

"I don't have anything to hide," Lucas said confidently.

Hermione, determined to reveal the truth that Lucas had been the one to kill his sister, cast the spell on him and began to ask simple questions until she asked the main one.

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Bl-green," He said, hissing slightly when he was forced to tell the truth.

Hermione squinted. "Thought you'd try and lie, eh?"

When he gave her a sheepish look, she tried again.

"What's your father's full name?"

"Lucius Malfoy,"

She took a deep breath. "Was it you or Draco that murdered your little sister?"

He swallowed. "Draco."

Hermione's eyes popped open wide and doubts about Blaise began to haunt her thoughts immediately. She looked down slightly at the ground, her thoughts taking over her body, but then raised her head and jabbed her wand at his chest again.

"What happened to him because of it? Did he get jailed, or was he underage?"

"He got jailed for thirty days, but that was it. They claimed he was too young to take a full punishment,"

"Okay," Hermione murmured, shifting. "What did your parents do about it? Why did Dumbledore let him in this school?"

"My mother and father were devastated and immediately neglected him- not literally. He's still their son, so they took care of him, but they didn't _want_ to. They pretty much ignored him and Dumbledore promised to keep a sharp eye on him. We got sent to different schools because they didn't want him murdering me, too."

Hermione took in a deep breath, everything becoming a little too much for her. She braced herself on the bench behind her and sat down, leaning on one hand.

"I told you," Lucas said with desperate eyes. "It wasn't me, I'd never do that to her," He said, coming towards her. He sat on the bench beside her and took her hand.

"Please, you have to trust me," He said. Hermione swallowed and blinked.

"I do… I just can't believe it," She said. Lucas reached a hand up and touched the side of her face. He dropped it as quick as he had raised it and then intertwined her fingers in his.

"I know… I couldn't believe it either, but there's not much I can do about it now, unless I have some sort of time turner," Lucas laughed bitterly. A light went off in Hermione's head and she realised that she had a time turner- she could loan him it, couldn't she? No… No, she couldn't possibly do that. There was still something suspicious about him.

"Hermione… Can I kiss you?" Lucas asked timidly. Hermione's eyes snapped to his and she looked around wearily.

"Um…" She began to loosen her hand from his and stood up. "No, not today Lucas, sorry."

* * *

"Draco, mate. Come on, it's dinner time," Blaise said, opening Draco's dorm door. Draco sighed and set his book aside on his bed. For a moment, Blaise thought he wouldn't come until he swung his long legs over the edge of his bed and got up, walking to the door.

Blaise grinned. "Knew you couldn't turn down food,"

"Shut up," Draco growled playfully, grabbing his shirt and throwing him out the door.

"Did you see the way that Hermione was looking at you in the hall the other day?" Blaise asked casually on the way to dinner. Draco looked and him, frowning.

"No? How was she looking at me?"

Blaise shrugged, "I dunno… weird... as if she was trying to figure out what you were thinking or something,"

"Oh, alright," Draco said, dropping the conversation. Blaise smirked.

"I think she likes you,"

Draco scoffed. "She doesn't 'like' me, anyways, when are you planning on asking Pansy to be your girlfriend? You can only expect her to wait so long…"

Blaise took a double-take and then sighed. "How'd you know about that?"

"It was obvious- you smelled each other on that stupid blanket thing. When both of you came back it was so awkward I nearly cried,"

"Yeah well, why can't she ask me out? I mean, why are we the ones who always have to ask girls out?"

Draco shrugged. "I dunno, it's just expected of us, I suppose,"

"Oh, so it'll be you who asks Hermione out then, not the other way around?" Blaise said, sniggering.

"I'm not asking her out!" Draco said, exasperated.

"Well, you need to soon, otherwise your brother will,"

Draco's heart jumped a little at that and he frowned at Blaise. "Why would he ask her out? There's tonnes of better looking girls in here,"

"You just don't want him to have his dirty hands all over your little Hermione-wione," Blaise said in an over exaggerated baby voice. Draco cringed.

"Shut up," Draco said, stretching open the door to the great hall. Blaise and him looked around, as they usually did, before making their way to their usual seats. It was unusually quiet, and all eyes were on them, making it extremely awkward. They looked as if they were glaring, and Draco briefly wondered why it looked like they were staring at him more than Blaise.

"Mate, why's everyone staring at us? Have you done something?" Blaise slapped Draco's chest playfully, making him flinch.

"No! I haven't, I don't know why,"

"Man, this is sooooo awkward," Blaise dragged out, his mouth shaped as if he was about to whistle. They sat down in their seats, facing the Gryffindor table and gradually, everyone started talking again.

"That was so weird," Blaise whispered to Draco. He piled some food on his plate and tucked in.

"I know," Draco murmured back. He noticed someone sitting at the end of the Slytherin table and frowned, elbowing Blaise.

"Isn't that Pansy?" Draco asked, squinting. Blaise looked up and then looked down, sad that she wasn't sitting with them.

"Yeah, I wonder why she's not sitting with us," He said. Draco frowned at her, but left the subject alone anyways. He turned to Blaise.

"Have you two fallen out or something?" He asked. Blaise, fork poised just outside his mouth, shook his head.

"Not that I know of," He said, finally shoving his food in. Draco shrugged and sorted out his own food on his plate.

He was interrupted quickly, when a rapid slapping on his arm caught his attention. He looked at the offending organ and then to the olive skinned boy who it belonged to.

"Look at who Hermione's sitting with!" He said frantically, pointing over to the Gryffindor table with his fork. Blaise was so confused- why would Hermione be sitting with him when he'd just told her what he'd done?

Draco looked over and within seconds, angrily breathed through his nose. His jaw locked and it took all of his power not to get up and throttle his sibling.

"Why's she with him?" Draco asked, still staring at the two. He had his arm around Hermione as if he owned her or something.

"I dunno, just earlier I told her about how- um…" Quickly realising his mistake, Blaise tried to think of another thing that he'd told her about. "He's not a nice guy and stuff,"

Draco finally looked away from them to raise his eyebrow at Blaise's blatant lie. He rolled his eyes and looked back at them, a dragon battling against cages when he saw his brother whispering in Hermione's ear.

"She looks comfortable with him," Draco observed. He looked down at his food and began shovelling things in his mouth. "I hope they're very happy together,"

Blaise looked a little saddened at the fact his best friend wasn't going to fight for the girl, but sighed and went back to his food anyways. Dinner was over very quickly. Draco didn't enjoy sitting in silence whilst people watched him eat.

* * *

The same thing happened every day now; everywhere Draco went; everyone hushed and stared at him. When he was with Blaise, it wasn't as bad, so it was clear that everyone had a problem with Draco only.

On the fourth day since the hall, he'd seen Hermione and Lucas three times. Laughing together. Talking together. Studying together.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was insanely jealous and angry.

The silence and staring had gradually become worse; at first it was the whole hall, but if Draco was honest, there weren't many people present. Just the other day, he'd walked past a couple of first years and couldn't ignore their scared glances at him and their heads bowed; was everyone scared of him for some reason?

Now though, everyone just stared as if he'd killed someone. He couldn't stand it; all of those judgmental eyes on him. He didn't know what they thought of him, but part of him didn't want to know either.

"Mate, you coming to dinner?" Blaise asked swinging his door open. Draco swallowed, book poised on his lap.

"Nah, I'm not hungry," He lied through a smile. Blaise smiled back and closed the door, muttering an 'okay.'

He was starving, but he couldn't leave his room. If the students of Hogwarts had wanted to confine him to a small space, then they deserved a well done, because they'd done it.

Draco shrugged, deciding that if he became extremely starving then he could just go to the kitchens, but for now, he found his place in his book, sighed, and continued to read.

* * *

Turns out, he had become extremely starving and his rumbling stomach forced him to go to the kitchens. If anyone caught him he could just tell them that he was patrolling.

He went downstairs to the floor below the first floor and continued to walk until he came to the door. He heard a hassle inside and frowned into thin air; what on earth was going on?

He pushed the door open slightly, but couldn't retreat when he noticed Hermione standing there, trying to help a house elf carry a rather large crate of orange juice. There had to be at least two hundred cartons, but the house elf was adamant that he carry it on his own.

She noticed him too and her eyes went slightly wide. She ignored the house elf to stand up straight and take him in, and the house elf walked away, leaving the two of them there.

"Um… hi?" Draco muttered confusedly. Why was she staring at him like the rest of Hogwarts had?

"Hello," She said politely, tucking her fringe behind her ear. She fidgeted quite a lot- scratching her arm, behind her neck, shuffling her feet, crossing her legs behind one another. Draco raised an eyebrow in her direction, wondering why she was being so weird. He noticed that she looked quite nice, and wondered where she was going. He felt slightly underdressed in his uniform next to her coral, summary knee-length dress.

Since she didn't say any more to him, he made his way over to the counter and got out some bread, deciding to make himself a sandwich. He ended up having to throw away two pieces because the butter was too hard and was making the bread rip, his hands were also shaky because he knew that she was watching his back.

Suddenly, she was right beside him, taking the butter knife from his hand. She glanced at him briefly, but said nothing more than 'here, give me it.'

He watched her with great interest and silently thanked her for even coming near him. The only person who'd even been brave enough to talk to him in days was Blaise and he was becoming socially deprived.

He watched as she moved the butter around with her knife first, making it soft, and then spread it over the bread in the same direction as the grain was going. He almost slapped himself for not noticing that.

"Do you want anything on it?" She suddenly asked, looking up at him. He nodded and went over to the fridge, grabbing some beetroot and cheese. She eyed up his ingredients with a disgusted look and then chuckled.

"That's disgusting, Draco,"

A red hint of blush attacked his cheeks and he looked away, pulling down his jumper. He laughed lightly at him again and then grabbed a bigger knife to cut the cheese.

"When did you first try this concoction?" She asked, still smiling.

"I think I was eight… it's nice. You should try it," He said, trying to make conversation. She smiled at him and then grabbed a fork to pull some beetroot pieces from the jar.

He felt slightly unable next to her, and his blush deepened when he realised that he'd just got a woman to make him his own sandwich. How pathetic was he?!

"Here," She said, cutting the bread in two large triangles. She grabbed a napkin and presented them to him. He took them slightly, looking at her interesting shapes.

"What am I? Twelve?" He asked, eyeing the triangles. Hermione shrugged, wiping her hands from beetroot juice.

"Sorry, I didn't ask,"

"What are you doing here anyways?" He asked, shoving the corner of a triangle into his mouth.

"Oh," It was her turn to blush. "I was just getting some orange juice for…" She waved a hand in the air. "It doesn't matter,"

"And you dressed up nice to come down to the kitchen?" He frowned, chewing. Hmm… for some reason, her sandwiches tasted better than his.

"No, I was at Ginny's birthday party for Seamus earlier, and everyone dressed up so…"

"Oh," He muttered, nodding.

It became silent once again, something that he'd grown to hate now.

Thankfully, she broke it. "I didn't see you at dinner today," She said, looking for an explanation.

"I wasn't hungry," He shrugged, lying.

"Oh, I thought you might've been ill or something,"

That would've been a better excuse.

"Yeah…" He chuckled slightly, no humour in it. "Ill," He repeated.

"Are you alright, Draco?" Hermione asked quietly. He could tell by the sound of her voice that she didn't want the usual 'I'm fine' answer- she knew there was something wrong with him and wanted to know what it was.

He swallowed. _No,__ I'm losing everything and nobody even cares. _"Yeah, I'm fine," He smiled.

"Well, okay," She said uncertain. "I'm going to get back to the party. All they were even serving was firewhiskey and butterbeer," She rolled her eyes and laughed and then walked away, leaving Draco feeling empty once again.

He finished his sandwich quickly and grabbed a bottle of water to take back to his room. He'd just gotten to the Slytherin door, however, when he heard hushed shouting.

"Are you serious? The time he needs us most and you're siding with his brother? You're one of his best friends, Pansy!"

"I know, but apparently Lucas took the truth spell and said, under the truth spell, that it was Draco who killed his sister. I don't care what you say Blaise, but there's no way to get out of a truth spell. Draco _must've_ done it."

"He didn't!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. He's my best friend and I don't care about what _you're_ going to do, but _I'm _standing by him,"

"But I thought you liked me," came a small whimper.

There was silence.

"My whole family is dead. Draco is the only thing I have left- he comes before everything. Even if it turns out that he did lie, he'll still always be my best friend, and there's nothing that you, or anyone else can do about that,"

"Very well then,"

Draco gasped as she portrait opened and tapped his head twice, casting the disillusionment charm on himself. He quickly became the wall, and once Pansy was past the corner, he slipped inside.

"Draco," Blaise breathed, turning around. He'd had his head in his hands, but dropped them once he seen Draco.

"You didn't hear any of that… did you?"

Draco swallowed, tears almost pricking his eyes. "As much as I needed to,"

"Mate, I'm sorry," He said breathlessly. He roughly enveloped Draco in a hug, standing on his tiptoes slightly, seeing as he was smaller, and laid his cheek on his shoulder. Within moments, he felt Draco's back shake with sobs and held back tears of his own.

"We'll get through this," He said, pulling away. He kept a hold of Draco's upper arms and his heart broke when his best friend nodded, tears running down his face.

* * *

**I couldn't help but feel sorry for Draco here, and please let me know if the Blaise/Draco bromance is a little too strong here! **

**I didn't update yesterday because it was my birthday, I hope you guys don't mind and thank you so much for your wonderful reviews, they motivate me so much! **

**I feel like I had something else to tell you... but I've forgotten... Does anyone else hate when that happens? **

**Ah, anyways. I'm back at school tomorrow, but don't worry, this story will still be uploaded regularly. **

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter!

**A/N: **Of course, thank you to **SasoriHime05, Love in the rain, XDramioneLoverx, Nicnak24 and hurricaneMania142 **for reviewing!

**hurricaneMania142: **Thanks for pointing out my mistake! I've just changed it there! And yes, I have had a beetroot & cheese sandwich and they're delicious, but a lot of people find the idea scary, haha! To quote Draco in this story, you should try it!

* * *

Since losing Pansy eight days ago, Draco had never felt so lonely. He appreciated the fact that Blaise had stood by him, but sometimes, you just needed Pansy there to make it 'friends.' Without Pansy, Blaise was almost miserable, but kept a strong face for Draco.

Sometimes, he almost told Blaise to go with her, just so that he'd be happy. According to Draco, it was fine for him to be miserable, but he didn't want Blaise to be treated the way he was just because of him.

He'd known from the moment he'd heard the news that Lucas coming here would be a bad idea. He'd taken everything from Draco once again, even though the pain from this time could not rival the pain from the last time.

It was also news that Hermione and Lucas were near enough dating now, but as far as Blaise was concerned, she looked 'sad' sometimes. Blaise tried to convince him that it was because she was thinking about him, but he severely doubted it.

News that had hit him even harder was that Blaise had caught them kissing in the corridor. He didn't want to admit that he'd punched his own wall after that.

What annoyed him the most was that he hadn't reacted angrily to his gradual deterioration. He _was_ angry about it- but it was way too late to react angrily now. He'd just taken it without realising how bad it would end up.

Even some of the teachers knew of what he'd "apparently" done and treated him like a criminal. They'd give him back his test paper without saying anything, and smile at other students. They didn't even say his name as they checked the register- they looked up to see if he was there and then marked him present or absent. He couldn't go to McGonagall because even she fled when she saw sight of him, and if she did, then Dumbledore did as well.

Was there even any point of his existence?

* * *

Unfortunately for her, McGonagall had now given Filch her patrolling time table, so she couldn't sneak out if she ever wanted to. Apparently it was important for all professors or carers to have in case of anything happening due to the new knowledge that had surrounded the school.

She found it highly ignorant that everyone was suddenly taking precautions because of Draco. She knew that he'd killed his sister, but still… there was just something about him that was so innocent. There were still doubts in her mind, but she couldn't tell Lucas them. He'd slowly become a protective boyfriend and barely even let her out of his sight.

She didn't imagine herself with Lucas in the future- she knew that she was still a little girl and that she would never marry the boy she went to school with but there was a part of her that murmured 'why're you going out with him then?" She didn't know why. He wasn't even what she wanted.

The minute she'd said yes to being his girlfriend, he'd smothered her. He carried her books, always had his arm around her, and had even tried to _feed_ her.

It was disgusting. When she thought about the things that she didn't like about him, he became even more unattractive to her.

Every single day, she compared Lucas to Draco. She didn't want to admit that the first time she'd kissed him; she'd imagined that it was Draco. She didn't know why. She wasn't still attracted to Draco, was she? Draco had quickly turned from the Bully into the victim, and it made her feel sick. She didn't know how people could try and curse his broom so that he'd fall during Quidditch or why someone had given him an enchanted quill, so that whatever he wrote it would end up on the back of his hand, as Umbridge had done to Harry in their fifth year. She also couldn't comprehend why some of the teachers were joining in with it.

The minute she'd heard that Draco done it, her heart had cracked as if it were ice and someone had stood on it. She desperately hadn't wanted it to be true and Blaise's story had been incredibly convincing. Like she said, it was so convincing that there were still doubts, but she couldn't understand why Draco hadn't spoken out about it yet. The first few times Lucas had done something to taunt Draco; he'd been quick to lash out back to him, but not this time. It was almost as if something stopped him.

She didn't fully believe Lucas and spent every day in the library, when he'd finally leave her alone, to see if there were any restrictions concerning the truth spell, but so far, she hadn't had any luck. Draco had sounded like his sister was his best friend, bar Blaise, and so the fact that he'd "killed her" seemed far from the truth.

She sighed whilst thinking, taking one of her midnight-ly strolls around the castle, but froze when she heard a 'meow.'

She swore quietly and looked around, trying to find a room that would be empty. It was then that she realised she was in the dungeons, and it was Slytherin territory. She bit her lip and went in anyways, if anyone asked she could say that she was looking for Lucas.

Nobody was there, thankfully, and she walked into the first room that she saw to hide- the Slytherin door had opened for her, so it could open for Filch too.

She hid behind the door at first and hissed another swear word when she did hear Filch come in behind her. She quickly got into the bed and pulled the curtains around the bed she was in, pretending to sleep.

Filch opened her door and she breathed heavily, her heart beating faster and faster. He set something on the table and then she peeked open an eye to see him cautiously come near the bed through the sheer curtains. She squeezed her eyes shut and smothered her face into the pillow, inhaling the scent.

They smelled like…

"What the hell!?" Someone shouted, jumping back. Hermione flinched moved her hair from her face, thanking God that it wasn't Filch, but Draco!

"Oh, thank God," She finally breathed. Draco looked extremely confused, standing with his wand in his hand, holding one of the curtains.

"Sorry," She explained, climbing out of his comfy bed. "I thought you were Filch, so I came in and hid," She said embarrassedly, pulling down her skirt.

He seemed to relax a little. "It's okay, you just… I didn't expect you here,"

"I'm really sorry," She blushed. "I'll leave straight away,"

"No," Draco was quick to say. "You don't have to leave. I'm not throwing you out or anything," He said, looking from side to side. He didn't want her to realise that he enjoyed any company he got now.

"Um," Hanging out with Draco Malfoy? Well that wasn't weird at all. "Okay," She accepted. He sat on the edge of his bed, but she sat on the chair at his desk, finding it polite. There was a scattering of pictures on his desk and it warmed her heart slightly when she saw one of him and Blaise, laughing.

"So, I haven't seen you at dinner or breakfast in a week," Hermione said, looking for conversation. Draco shrugged.

"I usually just eat when I'm hungry now,"

"Which isn't until twelve at night?" She laughed whilst asking, nodding at the food in his hand. He looked away slightly, ashamed and she stopped laughing.

"How're you getting on with your potions report?" She asked.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm getting on fine, but your friend needs help. He keeps copying my work in class,"

Hermione laughed. "Oh, that's Ron for you,"

Draco didn't laugh back and so Hermione faded her own laughter quickly, her smile dropping from her face. She desperately wanted to be Draco's friend, but feared he'd see her invitation as pity.

"So, how is it being my brother's girlfriend?" He asked. Hermione was a little taken aback by the question, but answered anyways.

"Uh… tiring," She laughed. Draco choked on his food and her eyes went wide.

"No, no! Not like that! We don't'… do that. I just mean… tiring, having to keep up with… liking him,"

Draco frowned, taking a drink of his water to calm the food in his throat. "Liking him? So you have to… try to like him?" He asked, confused.

Hermione looked at Draco, contemplating telling him everything, but looked away from his fiery gaze.

"I'm not sure… I… We've only been going out for four days and I only even said yes because he just wouldn't stop asking. I thought it would make him leave me alone, but now he's just around me more… I can't even study without him being there," She spilled, and then she took a deep breath.

"Sorry, I just had to get that out."

Draco shook his head. "Don't apologise, I know how it is. All of his girlfriends have said the exact same thing,"

"Is that the reason they dumped him?" She asked, joking.

He chuckled, but she knew it was false laughter. "No, he ended up screwing them all ov- too much,"

At Hermione's disgusted glance, he laughed lightly. "Okay, I couldn't save that one. He ended up screwing them all over,"

"Oh…" Hermione faded out. She licked her lips.

"So, who are you seeing these days?" She asked brightly, hoping for a better conversation.

"Nobody?" He said in an 'obviously' tone. "Nobody even comes near me these days," He said nonchalantly, but Hermione knew he was sad about it. She swallowed and then bravely stood and took a seat next to him, tucking her skirt underneath her. She kept eye contact with him and then smiled.

"I'm coming near you,"

He looked away from her and licked his lips, finding the feeling of having someone close a little new again.

"Better watch, I might kill you," He said with a dry sense of humour.

"I don't think you're a killer, Draco," She said quietly and slowly. He looked back at her honest chocolate eyes and then blinked, looking downwards.

"You might be the only one," He said sadly.

"Well, my mother always said that as long as you have one person who believes you and trusts you, then you don't need to prove yourself to anyone else,"

He shrugged and reached over to put his bottle of water on his bedside cabinet, catching the time.

"It's already half past twelve, when do you usually go to sleep?" Draco asked, looking back at her. He realised that she looked so embarrassed, and wondered why.

"Uh… I don't really… sleep much anymore," She admitted.

"You have insomnia?" He asked, figuring that was probably it. She shook her head.

"No, I just never go to bed until about five in the morning," She shrugged.

"But we wake up at seven," He exclaimed, his eyes slightly wide. She nodded.

"I know,"

"How long has this been going on for?" He asked, frowning.

She shrugged. "About three months?"

"So you've been going on two hours sleep every single day for three months? How have you not died!?"

She laughed lightly. "I take energy potions every single day, nobody even knows. That's why I have so much time to study…"

He felt bad for her, he really did. She couldn't even tell her friends that she had problems sleeping, yet here she was, telling him. The poor girl stayed up every single night studying because her body wouldn't let her sleep. He had definitely been there before.

"Is that why you're always out at midnight?" He asked, remembering all the times he'd seen her whilst patrolling. She looked at him with a slightly worried expression.

"How did you know that?" She asked. He looked at her as if it was obvious.

"I always see you and you came up here because you were almost caught," He smirked.

Her breath caught in her throat at his smirk and she quickly looked away, blushing immediately. Something happened inside her stomach and she found the intensity of his stare to be too much.

"Yes," She said breathlessly.

"Are you alright?" He asked, frowning at her. She nodded, but got up from his bed.

"I have to go," She said, feeling a desperate urge take over her body. "I'll see you tomorrow at some point," She said hastily, before closing his door behind her and running down the stairs. She threw herself into the cold corridor and sighed, putting a hand to her sweaty forehead.

She heard moaning and groaning around the corner and frowned, tapping her head to cast a disillusionment charm on herself. She slowly walked around the corner and her jaw dropped at the sight before her.

Lucas had a young six year pushed up against the wall, her head back as he kissed and licked her neck. One hand held her leg up around his waist and the other was fumbling around under her shirt.

Hermione felt nothing but pure rage flow through her veins. Her blood boiled at the sight in front of her and her first reaction was to get back at him, even though she knew it was immature. She took the disillusion charm off of herself and stood there, watching them. They still didn't notice her. She was going to rip him off of her and punch him in the face when a better idea struck her mind, and she made her way back to the Slytherin common room.

She slammed the door behind her and slapped her feet loudly on the steps that lead her to Draco's room. She attempted to throw open Draco's door, but was disappointed to find it locked and waited for a second, tapping her foot. He opened it confusedly, wondering who could possibly be at his door at this time and then stumbled a few steps back when Hermione threw herself against him, plastering her lips to his. To say he was shocked would be an understatement, and he was about to peel her off of him when he smelled that godly scent that drove him wild.

His insides tightened at the familiar vanilla smell and he kicked the door shut with his foot, wrapping his arms around her.

He knew it was wrong. He knew that she was with his brother, but he couldn't help it- the smell of her made him melt into a pool of romance.

They walked backwards until the backs of his knees hit his bed and he sat on it, pulling her with him. Her lips were as soft as they looked and he never wanted to let her go- her body fit his hands so perfectly that that he just wanted to hold her forever.

He didn't know why she'd came in so desperately, giving him barely a moment to see who'd knocked his door before she started to kiss him quicker than you could say the word, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered, and it scared him that he'd drop everything just for a girl.

The kiss became more passionate and began to get deeper, but he knew his boundaries. He felt behind her thighs as she crawled on top of him, forcing him to lie down on his back.

When her breath hitched in her throat, he moved them upwards quickly to her waist, thinking that was the problem, but then she drew back from the kiss and looked down at him, breathing heavily on his lips, her eyes hooded.

He looked back up at her, looking far less dishevelled than she was, and licked his lips, finding them dry. He had a moment to think rationally, but it went as quick as it had come as she locked her lips to his again, repeating the steamy process.

She moved her hands up his chest and tangled her fingers in his hair, making him groan so quietly that she almost questioned if it was him or someone through the wall. He started licking her lips tentatively and she opened her mouth as well, letting him invade her mouth.

Her kiss with Draco set something alight inside her that she didn't have with Lucas and she just knew that she'd be dreaming of it every time she kissed anyone else. It was warm, passionate, sexy, tingly… It was everything that Lucas wasn't and he even smelled way better than Lucas. His scent reminded her of something, but she'd lost the thought when Draco had opened the curtains and scared her.

She didn't care where it went tonight- there were no boundaries for her. She knew it was immature to get back at Lucas this way, but in her defence, he'd done it first and she'd been waiting on something to give her the final push with Draco for ages.

* * *

The bright sunlight woke Hermione up that morning and she lifted up her head, only to cast a disgusted look to thin air as she wiped some drool from her cheek. She looked at Draco's bed sheets and rolled her eyes as she realised that she'd drooled on those too, making them a darker shade of green.

Feeling extremely sensible now that she'd let all of her rage out, she was glad they hadn't had sex. It would've been a mistake- she wasn't ready and she didn't want to be cheating whilst she done it. If she ever, finally had sex with Draco, she wanted them to be together and happy. She ran her hands down her crinkled skirt roughly, trying to straighten it out somehow and smiled sadly when she noticed her tie on the back of his chair. He must've done that when she'd finally fallen asleep.

She got her wand out and pointed it at the back of Draco's blonde head, slight tears forming in her eyes.

She knew it was wrong to do to Lucas what he'd done to her, but it was even worse that she'd practically used Draco. She didn't want him to see it this way and hate her, so she grabbed behind her, still staring at Draco's head, and pulled her tie from the chair, not wanting to stay a moment longer after she'd charmed him.

Biting her lip, she remembered everything that she could from last night and closed her eyes, feeling a tingle make its way up her body like a firework.

Sighing, Hermione finally opened her eyes and raised her wand a little higher, wanting, no, _needing_ to get this right.

Ignoring the smell of chocolate, honey and expensive aftershave, she...

"Obliviate,"

* * *

**The end. Just kidding, of course this isn't over yet! T****he next chapter should be uploaded tonight too! **

**Let me know what you thought of their kiss- was Hermione wrong to try and "get back" at Lucas, or was it the perfect chance for Draco and Hermione to finally live up to their reality and admit that they (might) like each other?! **

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter! Everything belongs to the lovely J.K Rowling.

**A/N: **I've decided to personally answer some reviews this time, just because some people were asking questions and you all quite enjoy being mentioned!

**greyc: **I'm sorry! Hermione explains to Ginny why she obliviated him, but don't worry! Draco takes back control of his memories near the end of this chapter ;)

**XDramioneLoverx:** Again, I'm really sorry! Eeek.Hermione didn't really want to be known as a "cheat" and so she removed any evidence that she had (obliviating Draco) I just feel like she's the sort of person who would truly feel awful if she had cheated and so I based it on that :)

**hurricaneMania14:** The girl can be anyone you want it to be! A random sixth year girl! If you name her, she can appear again! You can also choose if she should be on Lucas's side or not ;)

**23Nelly: **Spot on! Hermione feels attracted to Lucas (obviously) because he looks like Draco, but she likes Draco's personality better. But of course, Draco is so strikingly handsome that even Hermione sometimes feels girlish when around Lucas. Of course Draco will make it through everything! He is, after all, a Malfoy ;)

**Hermioniac: **You're really mistaken! Hermione isn't a "slut" (is it bad that that word makes me shiver? Eugh) I won't lie- I've been cheated on before and one thought that **_does_**cross your mind is "I want to cheat on them back, so that they can know how it feels!" Hermione just unfortunately acted on her immediate emotions, but who doesn't? If anyone is curious, I didn't cheat on the person to get back at them, and this might be a stupid question, but if you really hate this story, then why did you read it and why do you want another chapter? XD

**NinjaClarinetGirlBianca: **Ahhhh, you'll have to wait and see if Draco really did do it! ;) Nah, I'm kidding. It's pretty obvious that Draco didn't kill his baby sister. But will Hogwarts believe him?

**PotionCauldron18: **We'll find out how Lucas avoided the spell soon ;) There's actually a clue as to how Lucas avoided the potion in this chapter! Let me know if you figure it out XD and as for your other question, no, Lucius and Narcissa are aware of what happened to their little girl. They're coming into the story later!

Sorry I haven't replied to all reviews! I tried to reply to the ones that had questions, but I'll still mention those who didn't! Thank you **Moogan-elicia, memorable1102, SasoriHime05, Genia, Love in the rain, A shadow away and TheOneWithTheEyes! **

**I'd also like to thank: **All the people who have favourited this story and the 50 people who have put it on their story alerts. Brownies for everyone!

And now, after this **longer than usual **authors note, on with the tenth chapter!

* * *

"Are you out of your mind?!" Ginny squealed. Hermione shushed her quickly, eyeing the librarian and frowned at her excited expression.

"No! I had to. What if someone used Legilimens on him, namely Lucas? I'd be found out and I don't want people to know that I lowered myself to his level," Hermione said in a hushed voice. Ginny nodded.

"But still, not letting him remember something that steamy has got to be selfish,"

Hermione looked at the desk sadly. It was selfish, wasn't it?

"I know, but he just… it shouldn't even have happened, I don't know why I did it," Hermione said, folding her arms in front of a book on the table. Ginny grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"It's because you like him,"

Hermione whipped her head to face Ginny's. "No I don't! Don't say that again, please,"

"Why? Because I'm annoying you or because it's true?" Ginny asked, pushing her face in front of Hermione's when she tried to look away.

"Stop," Hermione laughed, shoving her away playfully. "Just because! Now shoo, I have to finish off this report,"

"Oh, alright. But remember," Ginny pointed a finger at Hermione as she got up and slung her bag over her shoulder. "If you ever want to admit that you're in love with Draco Malfoy, you need to come to me first,"

"Not even he gets to know first?" Hermione chuckled, dipping her quill in some ink.

Ginny's grin brightened. "Ah-ha! So you do like him!"

"My God, Gin," Hermione said. It was hard for her to be convincing with her red stained cheeks and goofy smile at her friends immaturity.

Ginny walked away after winking at Hermione, leaving her to her studies, but she was quickly interrupted again.

"Boo!" Two faces quickly appeared at either side of her. She jumped and then slapped the offenders.

"Boys! You could've given me a heart attack,"

Harry grinned. "So you're coming to the Slytherin versus Gryffindor game tonight, aren't you?"

She'd already planned homework. "Of course," She said. She could lay off of homework for a little while- she hadn't even gone to one of their games since they'd been back.

"We're gonna smash Slytherin!" Ron said confidently. Hermione and Harry both raised their eyebrows at each other and grinned.

"That's what you said last time, Ron, and we ended up drawing,"

"This time we are," He said, still confident. Hermione chuckled and shook her head.

"Plus, whilst Malfoy's getting distracted by everyone boo'ing him, you can catch the snitch!" Ron said brightly to Harry. Harry just nodded and laughed.

"Draco plays Quidditch?" Hermione asked, turning to Harry. Harry frowned at her, but still smiled.

"You know he plays," He said. Hermione blushed and looked back down at her work.

"I just thought he'd given up, y'know, since I haven't been to a game this year,"

Harry's frown disappeared and Hermione let go of a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

"Well, we're going to train for the rest of the day. Slytherin and Gryffindor are having like a pretend match before the real one so that we can see what new strategies they've got." Harry grinned, tapping her on the back lightly as they both went to leave.

Slytherin's were at the pitch right now?

"Wait! I'll come and watch the training whilst doing my homework," Hermione said quickly, stuffing her homework into her bag, not caring if it got crinkled. Harry smiled his approval and surprise and waited on her to catch up.

Hermione expected the Quidditch pitch to be full that evening, but it wasn't. Draco hadn't seemed to notice her at all during practice and for that she was both happy and sad. Earlier they'd just played in their own clothes, but this time they emerged wearing their Quidditch uniform and everyone cheered. Some people boo'ed at Draco, but didn't react. The only thing they saw was Blaise Zabini moving forward to say something in his ear. He nodded back at him.

"Just ignore them all mate," He said to Draco. Draco nodded and they mounted their brooms.

The game was relatively boring, if Hermione was honest. The whole time she sat, with nobody around her to talk to, freezing cold. A lot of the game, Draco spent near her, eyeing her with a frown, and she eyed him in return with wide, curious eyes. He looked as if he was trying to pinpoint something about her, but couldn't.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as an animated little gold ball whizzed beside her and turned to her when she turned to it, as if mocking her. She tried to eye one of the seekers and unfortunately caught Draco's eye first (it wasn't her fault!) and quickly cast her eyes to the small golden ball, nodding to it gently. He caught her gesture and flew towards her, chasing after it. Harry soon noticed Draco and chased after it too.

She hoped that Draco would win, just so that everyone 'boo'ing' him would be promptly silenced. She glared at a small boy behind her who shouted 'Fuck you, Draco!'

"Should you even be using that language? What are you, second year?"

The boy blushed and sat down in his seat again. "Sorry, Hermione,"

Hermione tutted in disgust and turned back to the game just in time to see someone cast a Confundus charm on Draco. She frowned at the person and raised her wand back to the arrogant lad, casting a Confundus on him. She laughed at his confused expression and thought 'Ha! How do you like it?'

Draco lost sight of the snitch and cursed, deciding to float around for a while, mainly near Hermione. He couldn't understand why, but he was drawn to her tonight. He felt like he'd had an important conversation with her, or told her a secret, or something. The last thing he could remember was her making him a sandwich and then leaving from the kitchens. He would have to go to professor Slughorn soon and get a potion to see if his memories had been tampered with.

Not that he'd get one, but he felt like unless he did, he'd be sat looking at her for ages, trying to figure out what it was she meant to him.

Just as an image of her looking down on him came, it left and he almost swore at how close he was to getting it. Someone had definitely tampered with his memories- he knew it. But he couldn't think about that anymore as the snitch buzzed past him, making him flinch.

He laid his hand out to snatch it, but it flew away quickly and he grunted, annoyed at the little thing. He followed it slowly and quietly, as if approaching a squirrel and then raised his hand quietly. He was so close, mere centimetres away from having it, and then Harry alerted it, making it buzz away.

"Fucking idiot," Draco growled, having to chase after it now.

There was a small battle between the two, almost the same as their one in second year, except the outcome was different.

Draco grinned as he caught the snitch, despite the crowd booing him. He was so proud of himself! He'd gotten into the Quidditch team this year without his father's help _and_ he'd won, with no help.

Throughout the booing, there were two people clapping. Blaise lowered himself and applauded Draco, running to ruffle his hair and brotherly hug him. The other person was Hermione.

She was disgusted by everyone who had immediately made negative noises and smiled at Draco when he looked up at her, a little surprised, but touched.

Someone behind Hermione began clapping too and she turned to see Ginny walk down a step and smirk at her. She smiled back and then turned to Draco, sighing happily.

* * *

"Ginny, why were you clapping today?" Harry asked, a stern look on his face. Clearly, he was rather angry.

Ginny looked rather miffed. "Because I thought you played well despite you losing," She frowned. Harry's stern expression seemed to lift a bit, but he was still suspicious.

"Are you sure? Because Hermione was clapping too… and I'm beginning to wonder if she's getting a little too close to Draco Malfoy."

"What do you mean?" Ginny laughed, pulling Harry on to the common room sofa so that Lavender Brown was not in ear-shot of their conversation.

"Well, you might think this is a bit… weird, but I've noticed her being around him a lot. She took him to the hospital wing, glances during classes, clapping when Slytherin won… It's all just a bit too strange,"

Ginny's pulse quickened, but she managed to put on a good act and drew back, frowning but smiling. "Hermione's _definitely_ not getting close to Draco Malfoy, I can assure you, Harry,"

Harry didn't look convinced. "Yeah, but she's spending a lot of time with Lucas, and he's in Slytherin-"

"Yeah that's because he never bloody leaves her alone," Ginny said quietly, almost under her breath, but Harry caught it.

"Well I was just wondering… I suppose I'll just leave it, if you do say it's nothing,"

"Good," Ginny smiled brightly. "Now let's go get Ron,"

* * *

"Professor?" Draco asked, walking into the potions classroom.

It was empty. "Professor?" He called out again.

Seeing as it was empty, he sat down and waited for the teacher to come in since it was the respectable thing to do. He had already researched some potions that he could take that could (possibly) return any memories he had taken from him, but after fifteen minutes had passed and much foot-tapping, Draco got up and went to the cupboard where the potions could have been.

There were many potions, all labelled neatly, even if they were quite dusty. There were a lot of notes on the door too, saying about side-effects and such. He ignored the notes on the door and picked up a few potions, turning them around to see their label. When they didn't match the one he was looking for, he put it back until he opened the other cupboard beside it, and picked out a purple bottle. It was the one he wanted and he grinned before shoving it in his pocket and closing over the door.

Just as he was about to close over the other door, some words caught his eye and he read the small passage on side effects.

"_Side effects of the 'nonfect potion' (i.e non effective potion) – This potion causes any spells that the drinker receives to be ineffective. Works on all spells and charms besides the unforgivables. For example, if one drinks the 'nonfect potion' and then gets hit with Expelliarmus, it will not affect them in the slightest and they will remain armed. Active for 24 hours. Do not take more than four doses in twenty four hours if potion fails._

Curious, Draco looked for the nonfect potion but found that there was unfortunately none and hissed slightly, figuring that that potion could be rather useful seeing as he was getting curses thrown at him left right and centre nowadays.

He closed the cupboard over quietly and then grabbed his bag, removing himself from the room quickly, just in case Slughorn didn't want him to have the potion.

* * *

"Hi baby," Lucas grinned, walking up to Hermione. Hermione brushed away the urge to roll her eyes at his constant baby-naming her and then flushed as she remembered why she hated him so much. She hovered for a moment, wondering if she should bring up the fact that he cheated, but if she was honest, she didn't really care about it anymore. She didn't like him enough to care that he'd cheated on her.

"Hi," She ended up grinning, kicking herself afterwards. She could've used the cheating thing to break up with him… oh well.

"I need to speak to you," He said, finally reaching her. She looked up at him expectantly, wondering what he could possibly have to say to her.

He pulled her aside by the elbow a little, out of ear-shot, although there weren't many students around, and then held both of her upper arms as if she was a child.

"Someone told me that they saw you coming out of the Slytherin common room last night, so I have to ask you…"

_Oh shit_ Hermione thought. _He's caught me…_

"Were you seeing my little brother?"

Hermione swallowed, for the first time looking at Lucas and feeling like he was the better one. She had lowered herself by cheating, just like he had, and that made her feel awful. But she was Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter and world genius. Sometimes, bad things happened. It was the way of life.

"No, I wasn't seeing him," She lied through her teeth. He let out a breath that he'd been holding and chuckled, shifting slightly.

"Good, because I was scared you'd maybe… I dunno preferred him or something. I mean, you fancy me, and Draco looks like me, so I understand that you might feel attracted to him sometimes,"

Hermione blinked in shock. What?!

"No, no, no," She shook her head, a halo of curls turning from side to side rapidly. "I'm not attracted to your brother, honestly,"

He didn't look convinced, but she was desperate.

"You, you're the only one," She said, nodding. "You're the only one… for me, Lucas."

He offered her a bright, toothy smile and she smiled back involuntarily, finding herself giddy around a boy who liked her- who could blame her? She was only female.

Lucas walked away after kissing her so hard that she'd almost forgotten her train of thought. She reckoned that he only done it for show, but it still made her feel… weird enough to forget what she was thinking.

It wasn't like the kiss with Draco, no. The kiss with Draco had been passionate and sexy, but kisses with Lucas filled her with dread.

Hermione shook her head, after her and Lucas broke up, she had to rid herself of the Malfoy's forever. They were too much trouble around her and she wasn't herself around them- it was better to keep safe.

* * *

Draco lay, panting on his duvet. The backs of his knees were against the corner of his bed and his feet were planted firmly on the floor, but he didn't feel like he was in bed. No, he felt like he was in heaven.

With the memory of kissing Hermione also came the memory of everything else that concerned her. In a flash, Draco had gone from hating Hermione, to loving her again. Love. Draco resisted the urge to spit. Love was so stupid, so silly. It ruined everything and with love came marriage and with marriage came children and with children became a wrecked sex life. He was a sex god- he couldn't have that happening.

He shook his head and sighed angrily for that seemed like the forty millionth time. Granger. It could've been anyone- but no, his heart was tied to her and her alone. What was it that he even found so attractive about her? Well, her hair was nice, even if it was bushy, it was a kind of special thing about her. Her face wasn't bad either. Her freckles were actually kind of cute, but-

"Argh!" Draco groaned, finally lifting his hands from beside him on the bed to push the heels against his eyes.

"Stop. Thinking. About. Her."

But it was no use. He couldn't deny it any longer- he was smitten with the little Mudblood. He had no idea what it was about her- he almost doubted that he _loved_ her, he was just kind of… well… fascinated by her.

How could she possibly be so confident, especially when she looked the way she did? Half of the boys wouldn't even glance twice at her, immediately making her 'normal' but she walked around like she was the most beautiful woman on earth, as if her life was perfect. He was jealous, he admitted. He didn't know if he wanted to _be_ her or be _on top of her._

It was probably the latter; the boyish side of his brain told him.

"This is so stupid," Draco whispered to himself.

Hermione Granger. How could it possibly even work? They were born enemies- she was a Mudblood! His father would positively _slaughter_ him if he even knew what he was thinking about right now. She was Potter's best friend- she was with his evil brother, for goodness sake. All of this should've disgusted Draco, but it just made him want her more. He loved the fact that she was forbidden, that she was pure and innocent, and that he wasn't. He loved the fact that he had the choice to ruin her life, but wouldn't because he liked her too much. He loved how she acted around him- how she blushed furiously when he smirked at her and became incoherent when he whispered to her huskily… He loved… her.

But he could be too late. She was with Lucas now and even though she'd kissed him, it didn't particularly mean anything. Lucas was known as the boy that no girl ever said no to. He was what everyone wanted.

Hermione was, unfortunately, no exception to the female race.

He had to see her. Had to know how she felt.

If there was at least one chance of her liking him back, he'd take it. He'd tried to deny it, but he couldn't help but see her as _his_. Nobody else could have her- she belonged to him, and him alone.

But first he had to find out why she'd obliviated him.

* * *

"Draco Malfoy's looking for you, y'know," A girl informed Hermione as she walked past in a daze. Hermione snapped out of it immediately and turned to the fifth year.

"What?" She asked blankly.

"Yeah," The boy next to the fifth year laughed. "Better watch he doesn't kill you,"

"I can deduct points for that comment, you know," Hermione said to the boy. The young fifth year laughed harder, clearly signifying that he wasn't afraid of her.

"Go for it, we're in the same house, you'll only be punishing yourself,"

Hermione kicked herself and almost swore under her breath before she turned back to the girl who'd given her the news.

"Where is he?" She asked her. The small blonde girl's eyes went wide and she backed away a step.

"You're not actually going to go and find him, are you? I mean… he's a criminal," She whispered the last part, looking around with darting eyes.

Hermione frowned. "Don't say things if you're not sure of them," She warned.

"But we are sure," The boy spoke up again. "You're the one that interrogated his brother, you got the news first hand,"

Hermione licked her lips. He was right- but something about Lucas was off and the situation with the sister was a little hazy.

"There are ways around a truth spell, you know,"

An even younger girl gasped beside them, her eyes wide and her jaw open. She turned away immediately, passing on the news that she'd just heard. Hermione sighed angrily through her nose- she should've been quieter.

"Don't mention this to anyone," Hermione warned, pointing a finger at two of the fifth years. She was about to leave when the cocky little boy spoke up again.

"We don't need to," He laughed. "She's already away telling everyone," With a nod of his head, he gestured to the smaller girl who had already told around three people.

"Granger," Draco shouted, making her turn around. Hermione stared at him cautiously, wondering what he'd want with her and felt a tinge of sympathy tug at her heartstrings as everyone who'd caught sight of Draco walked away immediately, not wanting to be "killed."

"Yes?" She asked, trying to imitate how she would speak to him pre-love-triangle.

Draco breathed in deeply, fidgeting slightly with the end of his jumper. How should he ask her?

"I know what you did to me," He said, and immediately winced afterwards. Jesus, he sounded like he was implying that she raped him or something.

Hermione swallowed. She'd had the feeling that he'd regained his memories somehow, but had put it down to nerves and ignored the idea altogether.

"What did I do to you?" She played dumb a little, squinting and raising her chin high at him.

He frowned, figuring that if she wanted to act like an idiot, she'd get treated like one. "You stormed into my room, snogged me senseless and then obliviated me. Why?"

Hermione laughed breathlessly and looked around; making sure that nobody else was there.

"You know that I'm in a relationship," She said quietly through her teeth.

"That didn't stop you the other night," Draco said. Hermione looked away guiltily and sighed.

"I'm sorry, I won't ever do it again," She rolled her eyes.

Oh shit, that was exactly the opposite of what he'd wanted.

"No," He said a little too quickly. Hermione looked at him queerly and he stuttered, opening and closing his mouth like he was a fish out of water. He gave up after a few minutes of a complete mind-blank and sighed.

"Come to my room with me, I'll explain in there,"

"No," Hermione said a little desperately, eyes wide. Draco turned back to look at her and she bit her lip. If she went with him and was alone in his room, she didn't know what would happen. She could end up becoming even _lower_ than Lucas by cheating two times and who knew how far they'd go? No, she couldn't possibly go with him. She'd lose control.

"Why not?" Draco asked, genuinely curious.

"Um." Hermione thought, "I just can't," She finished.

"Are you afraid it'll happen again?" He asked, making her eyes dart back to his. His eyes were so dangerously grey that they may as well be storms on a December evening and she bit her lip at the look of them, crossing her feet subconsciously.

"No, I just… don't think Lucas would appreciate us being alone in the same room together,"

Draco scoffed and it was final: he wasn't taking no for an answer.

"I don't give what my brother thinks, come on," He said, grabbing her wrist. He held her firm enough that she wouldn't let go, but not too hard that he left a mark. Lucas had left marks once.

She hadn't realised how close they'd been to the Slytherin dorms and before she knew it, he was dragging her through a portrait that he'd just muttered the password to. He nodded to Blaise, who smirked at them both as he moved his king out of check in a game of chess with Theodore Nott and then took her up to his room.

Hermione licked her lips as he locked the door and dumped her books on his bed, pulling her cardigan sleeves up until her elbows. It was extremely hot in his room and she feared that if he didn't open a window she might burst.

"Tell me why you obliviated me," Draco turned around, folding his arms across his muscular chest, a frown on his handsome face.

"I didn't want this to go any further," Hermione said, adopting the same position that he was in.

Amused, Draco dropped his arms by his side to see if she'd copy him again. She did, but she didn't know that she was doing it.

"Why not?" He asked, folding his arms again, a grin suddenly appearing on his face.

Hermione huffed and folded her arms, amusing him further. "Because! Don't you understand what I've just done or has society 'Okayed' cheating as well? Jesus, Malfoy,"

"Draco," He retorted, unfolding his arms whilst smirking.

"Don't do that," She breathed, looking away. Draco took a few steps toward her, making her look back up at him.

"Don't do what?" He asked, still smirking. "Don't ask you to call me Draco or don't smirk at you, because it gets you hot?"

Hermione burned, looking away from him. She glanced at him again and then hastily threw herself out of his room door, unlocking it in seconds and bounced downstairs to Blaise.

"Blaise, I need you to do me a favour,"

"Break up with Lucas for you? On it," Blaise said, walking out the door. Hermione stared after him, bewildered. How did he know?!

"So now you can be in the same room as me," Draco whispered into her ear from behind. She closed her eyes over and sighed, wanting nothing more than to have him, but of course, she couldn't.

He ran his fingers up her forearms until he reached her cardigan and then back down again, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Hermione thanked god that the common room was empty and briefly wondered where Theodore had went, but her thoughts were dispelled quickly as she was twirled around lips were planted upon her own, making her moan softly.

Her hands reached up to hold onto his shoulders and she met his rhythm, gasping when he pulled away, only to dive in for another kiss.

A heat erupted low in her stomach and she pressed her small body against his, making him groan and wrap his arms tighter around her waist. Through their smacking lips, Draco briefly heard Blaise's rushed and urgent voice, but ignored it and passed it off as his own mind playing tricks on him. He had to put all of his focus onto the little woman in front of him. He let one hand drift downwards, touching at how far he could go before they were both forced to spring apart, their faces red and their chests heaving.

"What the fuck is this?!" Lucas growled angrily.

* * *

**A little bit of drama for you guys...**

**Harry, Ginny, Ron and Blaise are also getting further involved. **

**I hope you guys don't mind the 5 day wait for the next chapter, I've been a little busy and this chapter needed editing A LOT. I still don't think I'm happy with it, but couldn't bring myself to make you guys wait even longer. Next chapter will be up tonight or tomorrow! Look out for it, and please, if I've made any mistakes then let me know! **

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter!

Much thanks to: **23Nelly, Nicnak24, Moogan-elicia, Love in the rain, thegoodlife1, Roxy, MargotT, Genia, XDramioneLoverx, Hermioniac & SasoriHime05! **

**23Nelly:** I always look forward to your reviews, they're so lengthy! Blaise went up to Lucas and told him that Hermione wanted to break up, but Lucas got angry and walked in on them kissing XD Your theory is quite close! I love to hear your interesting thoughts and no problem about answering your questions! Thank you for reviewing! **  
**

**Nicnak24: **Teachers will definitely apologise to Draco and I already have Pansy's reaction all planned out! Lucius appears in this chapter, you'll be glad to know! I made him a little softer than usual, but he'll become a big bad boy again once he hears what Lucas has done to Draco XD Thank you so much for reviewing!

**MargotT:** Don't you worry! Even if English is not your first language, you are still accepted here! Thank you so much for reviewing my story even if it took you out of your comfort zone! Hahaha, I'm pretty lazy too!

**Hermioniac: **Thanks for reviewing previous chapters and I'm sad to see you go. It's not your fault, don't worry, not every story is everyone's cup of tea :)

**Thanks guys! **

* * *

"You think you can just steal my woman from me?" Lucas raged at Draco. Blaise stood behind all of the commotion with a grimace on his perfectly chiselled olive face and swallowed thickly; he'd tried to stop Lucas from going inside, but he'd been too angry after finding out that Hermione wanted to end things.

Hermione blinked in outrage. "What? _Your_ woman? How dare you?!" She exclaimed.

She was ignored as Lucas walked up to Draco, positively fizzing. "You think you're so smart, don't you?" Lucas seethed.

Draco's grew eyes so similar to his brothers flicked up to his and he finally acknowledged his sibling. "You're over; I can kiss her if I want to,"

"We're not over," Lucas said roughly, glancing at Hermione briefly. He grabbed her wrist so tight that she gasped and then turned around to Blaise.

"Close that portrait, you mongrel. I don't want this to leave the room,"

Hermione swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the pain in her wrist.

Once the noise outside was silenced by the clicking of the portrait, Lucas turned to them and filled the quiet room with new words that seemed to echo off of the walls with terror.

"You two," He nodded towards Hermione and Draco. "Stay away from each other," He drew out through bared teeth. "She's mine,"

"If I see you speaking to each other at all… I'll kill her, I swear to god, Draco. Dare me to do it,"

"I thought you cared about her," Draco frowned, motioning to Hermione.

"What? You mean me? You're going to kill me?!"

"Shut up!" Lucas growled, pulling on her wrist so hard that it popped her funny bone out of place, making her stumble and hiss.

Draco looked pained at the fact that he couldn't help her and kept his attention on Lucas. "Don't you think you're being harsh?"

"No, this bitch betrayed me. She'll get what she deserves. Now, you, as well, you little twit." Lucas said, looking behind him, targeting the last part towards Blaise. Blaise moved to stand beside Draco, looking rather frightened.

"This doesn't leave this room. Tomorrow, we'll go back to being fine. Hermione and I will continue being a happy couple, you won't speak to her, and the bruises on her wrist will be from when I saved her from Draco," Lucas smirked.

"No!" Draco said immediately. "I'm not taking the blame for another one of your stunts. People already think it was me that killed Aerilyn, I'm not going to have them thinking that I hurt her too," He nodded towards Hermione.

"Wait, people _think_ you killed Aerilyn? So it was really you?" Hermione's curls turned to look at Lucas and he smirked down at her.

"Nonfect potion, little bitch. Looks like you're not as educated on your potions as everyone thinks,"

Realisation crossed Hermione's features and she cursed underneath her breath. How could she have forgotten the potion that she'd brewed in fourth year and passed in fifteen minutes when it usually took seventeen!?

Lucas chuckled darkly as he noticed his younger brother's eyes getting glassy.

"Haven't seen you look this way since that night,"

"Look, hold up. Why don't you just go and bother some other folk, instead of us, okay? We have nothing to offer you," Blaise interjected.

"Fuck off, you little twit. I'll end you, Draco. I'll take everything that you care about and rip it to shreds, starting with her," He said, giving Hermione's wrist a sharp tug again.

"What do you want?" Draco asked.

Lucas laughed loudly. "That's just it; I don't want anything except from you, in complete misery. I don't want you to die- I want you to hit rock bottom, alone and frightened. I want your life to be completely submerged in darkness and then, when I get bored of you, you can kill yourself," He shrugged nonchalantly.

"But why? I've never even done anything to you," Draco yelled, his Malfoy temper taking over.

"Because you didn't take the blame that night!" Lucas yelled back, tears in his eyes. "I was only fourteen and I was sentenced to jail for thirty days,"

"Thirty days?" Draco laughed without humour. "I have to live a lifetime without my sister now, thanks to you, you fucking prick!"

"Fuck her, she was useless anyways. _I'm _the Malfoy heir, and so are you. We're relied upon to continue on the line, but _she_ wasn't. She'd take some other fuckers name and then we'd branch off onto another family. I'm not fucking having that; the Malfoy's will stay pure,"

"Who cares who she married? She was our little sister! And she wasn't useless," Draco said, almost choking up.

"Can you please let me go? I'm capable of wandless magic," Hermione suddenly spoke up. She'd stayed silent for a while, trying to tame her own temper, and to try and get the truth out of them both.

"Are you threatening me?" Lucas said, letting go of her wrist so that he could turn on her.

"If you see it as a threat then it's not my problem," Hermione said stubbornly, her eyebrows set in a frown.

"You'll regret that," Lucas growled, raising his fist.

"Stupefy!" Blaise shouted quickly. Lucas fell to the floor in a stiff block and Draco turned to Blaise.

"You had that the whole time? Why didn't you just kill him?" Draco asked, his eyes wide as he gestured towards Blaise's wand. Blaise backed away slightly from his insane looking best friend and shrugged timidly.

"I don't know… I don't want to be a killer?" He offered. Draco looked at his brother's body and then cursed; grabbing Blaise's wand to perform a series of spells which would leave the scene without them being witnesses.

"We need to leave Hogwarts," Draco announced. Hermione sat on a sofa, twisting and turning her bruised wrist in one hand. Draco looked at the slight mess around them when his eyes lay on Hermione and he knelt down in front of her soundlessly, taking her arm in his hand. He didn't break eye contact with her as he murmured a healing charm and her bruises soon faded.

He stood up and turned back to Blaise.

"Go and pack,"

Without another word, Blaise left the pair alone, sensing that was what they wanted.

"I'm sorry, Draco," Hermione muttered quietly.

"Why?" Draco frowned, lowering himself beside her.

"I can't leave Hogwarts," She said. "I can't do the running away thing again. I done it with Harry and Ron and I just can't,"

"We're not safe here anymore. You don't understand- he's worse than a death eater, his thoughts are eviler than Voldemort's… He isn't just going to change and leave us alone- when he wakes up, we're all dead. He didn't even murder my innocent little sister with a spell- a quick, easy, painless way to die. No, she was so small and she was killed to death with a knife. Stabbed fourteen times in the chest and seven times on the stomach, now that we've double-crossed him, we'll get worse."

"No, we can tell Dumbledore- he'll be able to help,"

"Dumbledore's the one that let this freak into the castle! Plus there are still ways he can get in… too many ways, simple things like Polyjuice potion and a disillusionment charm… it's too risky, we have to leave, go into hiding," Draco said, getting up to go and pack.

"I'm not going into hiding just because of some spoiled little brat!" Hermione shouted, getting up also. Draco turned around to face her.

"Don't you understand? The moment he wakes up he can kill everything in this castle. We. Aren't. Safe."

"Don't speak to me like I'm a child, Draco," Hermione warned lightly. "We can figure it out… I'm not leaving," She said, finalising her decision.

Draco angrily sighed. "Fine, wake up to the hands of him," he gestured to Lucas's body on the floor, "and don't think he'll change; he won't."

Hermione swallowed and regret filled her heart as soon as Draco began walking away, most likely to pack.

"What if I erase his memory?" Hermione shouted to Draco, who was half way up the stairs.

"If I'm smart enough to bring my memory back, then so is he,"

Hermione sighed, tears pricking at her eyes. She'd let her love go once; she didn't want to have to go through that again. She quickly ran upstairs to Draco, using the banister to pull herself up because her legs felt like jelly. He turned around at the sound of her running and stared down at her, wishing he could wipe the sadness from her face and replace it with happiness.

"I don't want you to leave," Hermione said, her voice shaky. Draco looked around, trying to think of anything else that they could do, but there was just nothing.

"I don't want to leave either," He looked down.

There was a strangled choking sound before a head of curls attached itself to his body in a warm, tight hug. He looked at her sympathetically before wrapping his arms back around her, returning her hug.

She pulled away with glassy eyes and unshed tears and sniffled. "I know nothing happened with us but… I don't know, I guess I just got attached to the idea of us finally…"

"I know what you mean," Draco said quickly, interrupting her. He didn't want to hear her admitting that they wouldn't be together. It would be too painful.

"I'm sorry your brother has practically ruined your life," She said, squinting through tears. He nodded and stepped two steps lower, so that he was eye-level with her.

"It's not your fault," He said quietly

"I know," She whispered sadly, and then her voice grew louder as she wiped a finger just underneath her eye. "I just wish I had done something; I knew all along that he wasn't… right. I always knew you were innocent, but I didn't even tell anyone else, so now you're hated by many, and I could've stopped that," She gave a bitter laugh.

"I think everything is too messed up for us to be together," Draco finally said, letting the comment hang in the air for a few seconds as they both realised what he'd said.

Hermione hiccupped a little and it broke his heart, having to see her like that. "I know," She smiled sadly, a tear finally dripping down her cheek. She chuckled and wiped her tears away again.

"Who knew I'd end up falling for Draco Malfoy?"

He offered her a sad smile, but his body and mind were too numb to do anything. Not only had he lost the whole of Hogwarts' support, but he'd lost her too.

"I think I'll go and pack now," He said numbly, his old persona returning. Hermione's eyes went slightly wider before she drew back and nodded, going down a step.

"See you later, Draco…" She muttered. He swallowed before answering,

"Goodbye, Hermione."

* * *

3 hours later, Hermione sat bawling her eyes out to Ginny, who rubbed her back soothingly. She had just spilled all and to say Ginny was surprised was a vast overstatement. Ginny had known all along of Draco, Hermione and Lucas's love triangle. Draco was directly outside her window, waiting on a carriage and Blaise was with him, patting him on the back every so often as if he was in need of comfort too.

The door was knocked and Ginny looked at Hermione before walking away to answer it. When she noticed who it was, she quickly shut the door over so that Hermione couldn't see and looked back at her on the sofa, sitting crying into a couch cushion. She stared sympathetically at her best friend before slipping outside the door quietly.

"What do you want?" Ginny asked in a quietly hushed voice.

"Give this to Hermione, it's our location," Blaise whispered back. Ginny pushed away his hand that contained a small letter.

"No! I'm not letting you two put her through any more trouble,"

"Please," Blaise whispered harshly. "She needs to know in case she changes her mind,"

Ginny looked at Blaise, a contemplating expression etched upon her pretty face. She finally took the letter from his hand and fiddled with it in her hands.

"Fine, but if your best friend hurts her again, I'll kill him, don't doubt me,"

Blaise grinned slightly. "I wouldn't doubt you for a minute, red,"

Ginny frowned slightly, but smiled at the same time. "Don't call me red,"

"Got it," He whispered, smiling with a certain charm about him. Despite Ginny being taken by Harry, she had to admit that Blaise was extremely handsome. He swaggered away, and Ginny quietly made her way back into the room. She was about to hold out the note for Hermione to take, but her racking sobs and choked hiccups made Ginny's heartstrings tug.

"Are you feeling any better?" Ginny asked gently, sitting down beside her.

"I'll be fine soon. I don't even know why I'm so upset, we weren't even together,"

"You don't have to be together to miss someone terribly, y'know," Ginny said. Hermione nodded and set her head against her hand, tears rolling down her face.

"I know, I just- oh I don't know," She whimpered sadly, before she scrunched her eyes shut and began to cry again. Ginny wrapped an arm around her and pulled the small girl towards her, letting her lean on her. She rubbed her back and kissed her hair.

"Shhh, it'll be alright," She whispered, sliding the envelope under the sofa cushions discreetly.

* * *

"This might be kind of fun," Blaise giggled, in a rather happy mood. Draco squinted at his best friend, deeming him insane immediately.

"Why would this be fun? We're on the run from someone mental who's going to kill us and-"

"We can treat it like a holiday, though! The times where we know that we're safe, we can have fun," Blaise grinned widely. Draco rolled his eyes, smiled and jerked a little from the way the carriage swayed.

Draco sighed deeply, alerting Blaise. "Are you alright, mate?" Blaise asked quietly, not knowing if he should begin asking about Hermione just yet.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Draco said unconvincingly. "We weren't even together," He gave a laugh without humour. "Don't know why I'm so upset,"

"Just because two people aren't in a relationship, doesn't mean they don't love each other all the same,"

"Blaise," Draco said in a 'not again' tone. "Please stop hanging around with Pansy; it's making you sound like such a little girl,"

The two boys chuckled, although one was clearly sad, as the carriage was pulled into a distance. Only one could see what the carriage was being pulled by.

* * *

A crinkling disturbed Hermione's sleep and she groaned, pulling up her head to see what was going on underneath her. She had fallen asleep on the sofa hours ago after a crying-fest with Ginny and in an awful position. Her neck rejected the idea of stretching and the hissed at the pain, her hand immediately going to massage the area. A small, white piece of parchment was sticking out from underneath the couch cushion and she squinted, blinking constantly until her eyes adjusted to the light.

"What?" She whispered, pulling it out. Her name was printed on the front, the back of it left open as if someone had already read it or if the person who sent it just hadn't been bothered to close it properly. She turned it over in her hands a few times and then pulled the contents out.

Two letters were enclosed and she read the smallest one first, fearing what the second, longer one would say, or rather, fearing who it was from.

The first letter had an address on it, which she found strange, until she remembered that they had left, which left a pang of sadness in her heart and a burning sensation reached her tired eyes immediately. She sighed before she sat up with the longer note, preparing to cry once more.

_Hermione_

_I know everything is really weird right now, and not much seems to be going right, but I just need to explain this to you so that you understand everything._

_My little sister was killed by my big brother; I've never understood why he done it, but I've always had the feeling that there was an ulterior motive. He's an obsessive freak and he has no sense of feeling at all; he's a completely numb person. He'll take out anyone if it means he can get what he wants, even people that he, supposedly, loves. _

_I don't want anything to happen to you. You're important to me and everything happened so quick with us that before I knew it, I was picturing the rest of my life with you. I don't know if that'll happen now. I can only hope…_

_I know we weren't 'together' but apparently you don't have to be in a relationship to be in love. I wish you had come with us. I want to get to know you better, but I can understand why you didn't._

_If this is the last time I ever contact you, then just know that I care about you a lot… I haven't cared about a girl ever since her and… it's… hard to open up again._

_I don't even know how I'm admitting this; I must sound like such a girl. Anyway, I have to get down to the carriage before seven so I guess I have to go…_

_I don't know if I'll ever give you this letter. If you do get it, I hope you understand and if there's even one little part of you that wants to get to know me back then… please just… let me know, or something._

_Love… or from, you choose,_

_Draco_

* * *

"We've been asked to go to Hogwarts," Narcissa announced, walking into the dining room. Lucius raised an eyebrow at her.

"I've already been educated,"

Narcissa whipped Lucius on his perfectly blonde head with a newspaper she was holding and sat in the seat in front of him.

"No, I'm scared it might have something to do with Draco, what if he's failed all his exams?" Narcissa asked worriedly, her eyes darting all around the room. Lucius sniggered and Narcissa glared darkly at him, silencing him immediately.

"Love, he won't have failed his exams, Draco's smart, he knows everything,"

"I know but… Dumbledore sounded urgent, I think it might…" She bit her lip, making Lucius uncomfortable.

"Might what? Tell me, Cissa,"

"I know I'm just a paranoid mother, but I can't help but fear that… _he_ might've shown back up,"

Lucius shifted forward to the edge of his seat and took his wife's hand in his. "He's not back. He wouldn't dare show his face and we told Durmstrang not to let him go. If he has any sense of sensitivity then he wouldn't come back here, especially at this time,"

"Oh I know," Narcissa whined. "But I'm just worried about Draco- I'll always worry about him. We've already lost one child; I don't want to lose another,"

Lucius stared at his wife sympathetically. "When have we been told to go to the school?"

"Tonight, that's why I'm even more worried. If it hadn't been urgent, we would've been asked to go in the morning, but he's demanded that we come tonight,"

"Alright," Lucius said, getting up. He went over to a small closet and brought out a broom, smiling at Narcissa fondly.

"Let's do something we haven't done in a while, love,"

* * *

"I understand you may be worried, Mrs and Mr Malfoy. And you have right to be," Dumbledore declared, walking slowly around his office with his fingers interlocked together. McGonagall stood, worry etched upon her face, at the other side of the room.

Narcissa bit her lip.

"A few weeks ago, Durmstrang contacted me regarding your son, Lucas Malfoy. I was asked politely to keep my eye on him for a few weeks and I did so. I saw no reason to say no."

"Oh God," Narcissa whispered.

"It is understood that tonight, Lucas was hit with a stupefying curse. We kept him under bonds because we do not know the reality of the situation just yet; we don't know whether to see him as a danger… or not."

"Of course he's a danger," Lucius spoke up, giving a bitter, obvious laugh.

"We cannot find your son, Draco. All students have been told to search the grounds of Hogwarts and we won't stop until we find him. Blaise Zabini is also missing, and Lucas was stupefied in the Slytherin common room: the dorm of both boys. They are our main priority, and we will find them if it damages us or not."

Narcissa put her head in her hands and cried. Lucius rubbed her back soothingly and turned to Dumbledore.

"So where is Lucas?"

"He's being questioned right now by Professor Snape with some Veritaserum, however it is not news to Hogwarts that Lucas is in possession of nonfect potion- meaning he has the ability to resist Veritaserum. He'll be held for at least twenty four hours, so that we can be clear that the potion has worn off,"

"Alright," Lucius said calmly. Dumbledore sat in his seat again, waving his robes out of the way.

"I may mention this to you, though: Has Draco ever mentioned… his new fascination with Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked, smiling slightly, his eyes twinkling.

"Granger? Hermione Granger? The Muggleborn girl?" Lucius asked. Narcissa raised her head to look at Dumbledore.

"The exact one. It has come to my attention that Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy have become… close to each other. The attraction has always been there, however, they just needed… a push. This was also a reason that I accepted Lucas into Hogwarts."

"Well, might she know where he is then?" Lucius asked almost desperately.

"You read my mind, Mr Malfoy," Dumbledore replied, his eyes still glittering.

"Miss Granger has the location of your son; it is up to her, however, whether she wants to reveal that information or not,"

* * *

**Sorry this isn't a very exciting chapter! The next one will have a little more drama (including Mr & Mrs Malfoy, Harry & Ron, Lucas aaaaaand... Snape, wooo!) I realise I haven't involved Snape in this story which is crazy because he's one of my favourite characters! **

**Just in case you guys were wondering, I don't know how long this story will be. I might write this story for another 2 years or another 2 weeks! I have everything planned out, but sometimes chapters just take on a life of their own and different things begin to happen! This is why I love writing so much. **

**I hope you enjoyed and let me know if I've made any errors! **

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Harry Potter!

Thanks to: **Genia, NinjaClarinetGirlBianca, PearlAmor, 23Nelly, 8, Roxy, Nicnak24, SasoriHime05, MargotT, XDramioneLoverx, knowitall13, Love in the rain and ashnakayy! **If I have spelled any of your names wrong then I'm truly sorry! I try to be quick with my Authors notes so that you guys can get onto reading the story!

**NinjaClarinetGirlBiana: **Hahaha! I think it's safe to say that Lucas is annoying us all! I have a feeling we might see a different side to him in the end... Thank you for reviewing!

**23Nelly: **LOL! Your comment literally made me laugh. "He's gonna get someone killed, I swear," Haha! I've always enjoyed Dumbledore's amused attitude despite the situation. You're so right! Blaise is more like a brother to Draco than his own flesh and blood is! I always make Blaise a good guy in my story, I love him too much to make him evil/not Draco's best friend! If you think Draco's letter is sweet, hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter then!

**NicNak24: **Thank you so much for reviewing! I love that you think this is such a different story because so do I! I was so desperate to write this because I've never read anything like it myself and it's become my favourite story to write! I may write a sequel if I feel like this is incomplete!

**SasoriHime05: **I agree! Lucas is _completely _crazy! We find out a little more about him in this chapter, but a lot more will be revealed in the next chapter! The Malfoy's fear Lucas because they created this psychotic child and compared to their other two children, he's just so different. They fear him also because he took the life of one of their children and he's just so different from what they raised that they deem him unpredictable and that kind of scares them. You hear more about them too in the next chapter!

Also, I'd like to thank **hurricaneMania142 **separately because their reviewing function isn't working, so they mailed me to review! It meant a lot and made me smile lots. Thank you lovely!

**Last, but not least, thank you so much to the 26 people who have favourited this story and to the 62 people who have put it into their story alerts. **

**You guys honestly make my day. You're too nice to me! I'm eternally grateful and am sending you all virtual hugs right now. **

Now, on with the twelfth (and longest yet) chapter!

* * *

"Sir," Snape announced, opening the door. "It is time,"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and he got up, instructing Professor McGonagall and the Malfoy's to accompany him. They exited his office and followed professor Snape, his robes billowing out behind him like a parachute, and then entered his own office. Lucas was strapped, magically and un-magically, to a chair and thrashed around, shouting obscenities.

"Shut up, you insolent swine," Snape drawled, holding out his arm. A vial of Veritaserum flew into his hand obediently and everyone watched on, mesmerised. Narcissa held her hands, clasped, up to her mouth, devastated at what she'd given birth to. Lucius looked at his son with complete and utter disappointment.

"Open your mouth," Snape drawled. Lucas sneered and purposely kept his lips together. Snape sighed in impatience and held up his arm.

"You can willingly obey me, or I'll open your own mouth myself and trust me… you _won't_ like it,"

Lucas's sneer turned from smug to angry and he opened his mouth slightly. Snape tugged his head back harshly and flicked open the cork of the vial with his thumb deftly, pouring the entire contents into Lucas's mouth.

Snape crouched a little, staring into Lucas's eyes and then stood up straight, moving away a little.

"His eyes are slightly glazed, something that cannot be faked. You may ask any questions now,"

Dumbledore nodded his thanks and stepped forward confidently, looking into the boys eyes.

"Is your brother alive?" Was Dumbledore's first question.

Lucas sneered. "Yes,"

"What about Blaise Zabini?" Dumbledore asked next.

"Yes," Lucas repeated, his sneer permanent.

"Oh thank God," Narcissa whispered.

"What exactly happened before you were stupefied today, Mr Malfoy?"

"Zabini came up to me. Said 'Ermione wanted to break up. I wasn't 'avin that. I went to the Slytherin dorms, didn't I? Saw her and my brother kissin.' I grabbed 'er n then told them they were to stay away from each other. That she was mine… Someone stupefied me from the back; I reckon it was Zabini,"

"That's all you can remember?"

"Yeah," He shrugged.

"Why's your accent suddenly changed?" Narcissa asked a little timidly. He turned to look at her lazily and shrugged.

"Put on a polite voice to come here, didn't I? I'm originally from Manchester, not London, the accent varies," He shrugged.

Narcissa nodded sadly and her nerves calmed a little since she was sure that Draco was alright now.

"Lucas- how many people have you killed?" Dumbledore asked suddenly, catching everyone's attention.

Lucas smirked. "Hermione would'a been my 100th."

* * *

"This is such bollocks, I hate sleepin' in a tent," Blaise whined.

"I know, but I couldn't take us to the manor, that's the first place he'd expect me to go," Draco explained, relighting the fire.

Blaise shivered slightly, wrapping a blanket around him tighter. "Are you sad that you might never see Hermione again?" He asked curiously, his eyes unsettlingly steady.

Draco looked up at him, surprised at his question. He looked away and swallowed.

"Yeah," He admitted. "Why?"

"I… feel like that too. About Pansy,"

Draco looked at his friend sympathetically. All because of his brother, he'd forgotten that Blaise might've been hurt as well.

"D'you wanna talk about it?" Draco asked. Blaise took a deep breath and then sighed.

"Yeah… A bit,"

"Okay, shoot," Draco said, pouring himself a drink. He passed the bottle to Blaise, who stretched over and then began to talk whilst grabbing a glass without moving.

"I dunno- I just… when she told me she didn't want to be friends with you anymore, I just hated her. I hated her so fucking much. I thought she was a bitch, a cow. But I can't help but feel… attracted to her. I always have been. But then…"

"But then what?" Draco asked, sensing Blaise's hesitancy.

Blaise looked at Draco uncertainly. "I spoke to Ginny Weasley- just for a few minutes- to see how Hermione was before we left-"

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Draco's eyes went wide.

"I dunno mate, I just wanted to see how she was and I thought you might just end up arguing if I'd brought you- anyways, I spoke to Ginny and I just… felt this wave of lust wash over me, and now I'm worried. What if I go out with Pansy and then… cheat?"

"So you're worried because now you have a crush on a Weasley?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow. Blaise's eyes went wide.

"Shit. I forgot she was a Weasley."

They both laughed.

"Still, don't you ever worry that you'll cheat on Hermione? If you end up together,"

Draco swallowed and waited a moment before replying. "No," He shook his head. He sounded so sure.

"No?" Blaise repeated in a questionable tone. His eyes went wide and he raised his eyebrows. Draco looked at him and then down to the floor, rather embarrassed.

"No. Nobody will ever give me the same feeling that she does- I don't know how to explain it." Draco said, giving up due to his embarrassment.

"Try to," Blaise pressed. Draco sighed.

"She makes me feel- I don't know, whole. When she's not around me I wonder when I'm going to talk to her next and every second feels like an hour up until I see her. I can barely even remember what she looks like and I can't remember her voice… her laughter. I don't know why. I thought that if you were in love, you could practically paint the person you loved because you remembered them so much but I just… can't. The only thing I can remember about her is that she has bushy light brown hair and a button nose. That's it." He said sadly.

"I think you don't remember what she looks like because you didn't fall for her looks, you fell for her personality." Blaise offered. Draco shrugged.

"I dunno. I remember thinking that she was beautiful every time I looked at her and when she was with my brother… I felt numb… like nothing else mattered because now my whole life was just a mess. I didn't have her, so everything else was wrong."

"She never really loved Lucas though, she loved you," Blaise said, pouring himself another drink.

"But I don't even know that- she's never admitted it. I've never admitted it. I wrote her a letter, y'know," Draco said, looking at Blaise again. Blaise wanted to smirk.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, but I didn't give her it. Even on a stupid piece of parchment, I couldn't admit that I… liked her,"

"Would you admit it to her if you saw her again?" Blaise asked.

Draco nodded. "Yeah, I promised myself that if I see her again, then I'll admit it,"

* * *

"How're you feeling today?" Ginny asked quietly, sitting at the Gryffindor table. Hermione looked at her with slightly red rimmed eyes.

"I'm alright, I suppose," She shrugged. Harry frowned, chewing thoughtfully.

"Why wouldn't she be alright?" He asked.

Ginny looked at Hermione with an expression only she could understand. Ginny had prompted and prompted and prompted Hermione to tell Harry and Ron about Draco, but she just couldn't.

"I'm just getting myself a bit worked up with studies, recently," She said, shaking her head.

Harry raised an eyebrow, looking unconvinced with Hermione's reply. "Alright," He said, but it was clear he didn't believe her. Hermione sent a worried glance to Ginny.

"What was that?" Harry asked, directing his question to Hermione.

Hermione blinked and realised that Harry was talking to her. "Oh, what?" She asked.

"Why did you two just share some confused expression?" Harry pressed on.

Hermione shook her head, trying to think of an answer, but then Ginny spoke up.

"It was kind of a look that said 'told you so'," Ginny smirked playfully at Hermione. Hermione mustered up the best smile she could and chuckled.

"Yeah. She thinks it's typical that I'm getting stressed over studying and not… _boys,"_

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Ron interrupted, food spraying out of his mouth as usual. "How's Lucas?"

"Oh…" Hermione muttered, looking at Ginny. Ginny nodded encouragingly and she looked down. "We broke up," She gave a feeble laugh.

"Why?" Harry asked. "That's why you're not good, isn't it?" He tilted his head to the side. "Oh, Hermione. You know that you can tell me stuff like this,"

The comment warmed Hermione's heart and suddenly, a wave of guilt washed over her. "I know," She smiled.

"I think she just wanted to get over it herself, first," Ginny explained. Harry nodded at his girlfriend.

"Why did you break up with him? Or did he break up with you? That bastard," Harry almost exploded, throwing his fork onto his plate.

"I broke up with him," Hermione said quickly, trying to prevent Harry from going to look for Lucas.

"Why?" Harry asked curiously.

"I just… no connection," She shrugged, giving him an affectionate smile.

"Ah, I see…" Harry nodded, as if he understood, making Hermione giggle.

"Oh, Harry," She said, her mood extremely uplifted. He smiled back at her teasingly, knowing that he'd made her feel better.

"I'm glad you're my best friend," She said, reaching over the table to grab his hand. He moved his from underneath hers and laid it on top of hers, giving it a firm squeeze.

"I'm glad you're mines too,"

* * *

"I'm afraid we'll have to send him to Azkaban," Dumbledore said.

"Azkaban?" Lucius laughed. "He should be killed for his crimes! That boy is no son of ours," He said, putting his arm around Narcissa, who still looked a little shaken up.

"We either put him in Azkaban or keep him here to be analysed completely. The boy is… Ah, there is something about him. He seems… like he's holding something back. Not completely telling the truth, and I'd like to know what," Dumbledore squinted at the Malfoy's, waiting for their reaction.

Lucius sighed in defeat. "I suppose, it would be useful to know what that awful child is thinking,"

"If I might offer a suggestion…" Snape drawled suddenly. Everyone turned to stare at him.

"Perhaps I am being foolish but wasn't there some talk about a potion that stripped all spells and potions from a Wizard? It is possible that the boy has permanent spells on him, to protect him…"

"But what would he need protecting from?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Well, that… we can find out."

* * *

"So, you would be happy knowing that Hermione was the only girl you could even _look __at_, for the rest of your life?"

"Yeah," Draco chuckled, not quite sure why it was so hard to believe.

"It just seems like such a big commitment at seventeen," He said, smiling.

Draco shrugged. "I don't care. I want her."

"Awww," Blaise tilted his head to the side, grinning from ear to ear. Draco shoved him.

"Shut up," He grinned.

"I smelled Pansy," Blaise suddenly admitted loudly.

"I know," Draco said, acting as if it was nothing new.

"No, you don't know what I mean. I _smelled_ Pansy."

"I know," Draco replied.

"She's my fucking soul mate, oh God." Blaise panicked suddenly. Draco's eyes went wide, but he laughed at his friend's reaction.

"I could've told you that. All you did last year was stare at her like you wanted to rip her clothes off,"

"I did!" Blaise exclaimed. "But now… I want her to have my last name,"

"Oh for fucks sake. I might as well be camping with a girl," Draco said, getting up.

Blaise started laughing. "I can't help it, I take everything from her,"

"You should tell her," Draco spoke up. "I feel like something's coming… I feel like I might not get a chance to tell Hermione that I'm in love with her and I regret it so much. Don't ever feel like this, Blaise. Just tell her. Have no regrets."

There was silence for a few moments. "That was deep, mate,"

"Yeah," Draco agreed quietly.

"I think I will tell her," Blaise said, coming to a conclusion. Then he breathed in deeply and sighed.

"Yeah, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna tell her." He said, determined. Draco smiled slightly.

"Good."

* * *

"What the hell?" Pansy rubbed at her eyes. She sat up on her elbow in bed, grumbling slightly that her sleep was disrupted and then her eyes went wide as she noticed the black figure, climbing through her window, swearing at how tight the space was. She quickly grabbed her wand soundlessly and pointed it at the intruder.

"Lumos!"

"Oh, fuck!" The figure stumbled in, adopting a series of positions before he finally landed on his back. Pansy sighed and flicked on the lights with her wand.

"Blaise?" She stared down at him. "What the _fuck_ are you doing?" She hissed.

"Wow, you're grouchy."

"Yes, well, that's usually the unfortunate effect when someone awakes you from your slumber without a perfectly good reason!"

Blaise bounced up quickly, dusting himself off. Despite her rather rude attitude, he smiled, pumped up for what he was about to do.

"Why are you here?" She whispered to him.

"I need to tell you something," He said, grinning.

Pansy looked from side to side, her stomach tingling at his intense stare and charming smile. She couldn't stay mad at him for too long.

"Well, go on." She gestured with a wave of her hand.

"First off, you can't tell anyone I was here."

Her eyes went wide and she was about to speak, before he interrupted her.

"Secondly, we proved that Lucas was the one who killed Draco's sister, not Draco himself,"

Pansy frowned slightly, wondering why this couldn't wait until morning.

"And third…" Blaise started, taking a step closer to her. Pansy took a tiny step back and licked her lips, suddenly nervous.

Blaise laid his hands on Pansy's face and sighed, looking into her beautiful blue eyes.

"Third," He repeated. "I love you. And I always have."

* * *

Draco also visited Hermione's room that night, claiming that Blaise couldn't possibly go alone. He didn't awaken her, just watched her sleep.

He couldn't bring himself to disturb her. She looked so peaceful- like nothing was wrong. But he could see the tear-stained tracks on her face and his heart lowered into his stomach, regretting that he'd even come into her life to make her feel this way.

He bit his lip and moved from the chair he was sitting on to the floor in front of her sleeping form. She slept at the very edge, on her stomach, with her face facing him. She had one arm up, above her head, but the one closest to him was curled into her chest, as if protecting something.

A blowing sound filled the room as she breathed out through her pouting, open lips and Draco smiled slightly at her beauty. Was it possible that someone could be so perfect? He couldn't believe he'd fallen for her so quickly and that he'd went from hating her to loving her in half a year. It was crazy.

She started to moan softly in her sleep and he raised his eyes to her unopened ones, making sure that she wasn't awake. Slowly, he began to whisper to her.

"I'm sorry for everything,"

Silence filled the room, and he didn't know why he'd been expecting an answer.

"I wish I could fix it all,"

She rubbed her face into the pillow slightly, as if enjoying its softness and he stared at her fondly. She was so precious…

"If this is the last time I see you… then, I don't want to regret anything."

Draco scoffed and looked away. Blaise, when he was adopting Pansy's girlish attitude, was totally rubbing off on him, making him sound cheesy.

He grabbed the hand curled up into her chest, wincing when he heard her sleepy moaning and pulled it to him softly, turning it so that her palm was upright.

"I love you… so much." His insides tightened as he finally admitted what he'd longed to hear from her and he kissed her palm lightly, placing one hand on top of it to conceal something, before he laid it back onto her bed in front of her, now clutching something.

"Bye," He said, rubbing her forehead, before he got up from his crouching position and opened her window quietly.

* * *

Hermione's own yawning woke her up in the morning and she raised her hands high in front of her, turning over from her stomach. Something shiny, metal and heavy fell onto her face and she whimpered, flapping the object out of the way quickly before turning her head to look at it. Propping her torso up on her elbow, she frowned at the offending object and turned it around so that she could see what it was.

Her own hand flew to her mouth and she breathed in deeply, tears pricking her eyes. The silver snake, with green jewels for eyes, stared back at her. He'd been here. He'd been here and she'd missed him.

Her lip curling upwards involuntarily, she flopped onto her pillows and smothered her face, screaming quietly.

Some sobs echoed afterwards and she tried to crush the Slytherin pin in her hand, needing to feel the pain of its spikey tail to believe that it was real.

* * *

Draco stared at the milky blue, slightly dark, sky. He sniffled, his nose red due to the colder season and shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to keep them from becoming frozen. He had some time on his own because Blaise was going to look for some wood and despised having no company. Having no company reminded him of when Lucas had gotten the whole of Hogwarts to hate him, and he hated that.

He smiled lightly as small, fluffy white spots began to fall from the sky and sighed, wishing that he could spend the rather romantic moment with Hermione. He hadn't stopped thinking about her and wondered if she was alright in the castle with Lucas around. Had Lucas been suspended, or did he just wake up, walk out and act like nothing ever happened?

His heart was constantly jumping, not only from pumping blood to his body and lungs, but because he was worried about her. She was in the castle with a murderer and he wasn't there to protect her. It made him feel… uneasy.

The ground, in five minutes, was completely covered in white, but some black still showed through. It looked too wet to lie and so he didn't keep his hopes up, figuring that it probably wouldn't be white by the morning.

He closed his eyes and turned his hips slightly, swaying in the snow. He welcomed the coldness, and when he opened them, she was there.

He smiled. "You always loved the snow,"

Aerilyn stuck her tongue out at him. "That's because it means Christmas is near!"

He chuckled. "It could be August and snow…"

"No it couldn't," She smiled, picking up some snow. She rolled it in her purple gloves and then threw it at him, making him take a step back and dust off his now lightly white covered black jacket.

"You're so old now," She crinkled her nose, looking up at him.

"No, I'm not," He laughed, slightly insulted. "I'm only seventeen."

She poked him in the hip. "Old!"

He picked her up and swung her around, the sound of her laughter making him smile bigger than he ever had before.

"Your hair is longer," He said when he put her down, tugging on the end of it.

"'Ey!" She yelped, re-adjusting her hat.

"I know, so is yours," She pointed up at his. He looked to the sky, seeing little bits of his blonde fringe.

"I guess it is," He crinkled his nose.

"I like it like that," She said, smiling sweetly.

"I guess I'll just have to keep it like that then," He said playfully. She laughed and started skipping around him. Her energy was amazing.

"I know that he's back, y'know,"

"How do you know?" Draco turned around, causing her to stop skipping. His expression had turned scarily serious.

She shrugged. "I just know. I know everything that's going on with you, Draco."

Draco crinkled up his nose. "Don't talk like that; it makes you sound older,"

"I am older!" She laughed. He chuckled slightly.

"I mean, I only want to remember you as a child," He smiled. She smiled back, but her smile dropped and then she sat on the floor, huffing.

"Those are the only memories of me you'll ever have," She said sadly. He sat down beside her, putting his arm around her and holding her close.

"That's not true, I have these memories,"

She looked up at him. "I know," She sniffled. "But you'll never have real memories of me. New ones. When I'm…" She hiccupped. "Alive,"

Tears pinched Draco's eyes, but he had to stay strong, for her.

"You're more alive to me than anyone on the planet," He said, smiling.

She sighed. "You know what I mean,"

Draco sighed as well. "Yeah," He agreed.

"I like Hermione, she's nice," She spoke up. Draco's cheeks turned pink and he turned to her.

"How do you know about that?"

"I told you," She smirked. "I'm here all the time,"

"You better not be…" He warned.

"I am. I even seen when she kissed you, but I left after she pinned you to the bed. I did _not_ want to see what came after that,"

"Oh God," Draco groaned, putting a hand over his eyes. Aerilyn laughed uncontrollably.

"What're you laughing at?" Draco growled, taking his hand off of his eyes to move it to her stomach, tickling her until she fell flat onto the snow, which had gotten much thicker. Maybe he was wrong, and it would lie.

He tickled her until she was out of breath and then sighed happily, lying beside her.

"I miss you so much," He swallowed. Her voice was rather serious as well.

"I know you do. I miss you too,"

"No, seriously but. I miss you more than anything,"

"It's okay, Draco. I'm always here, even if you don't know it. Even if you don't see me… I'm here."

A tear ran down his face. "I know," He said, wiping it away roughly.

"Let it out," She said. "It makes you feel better. Crying."

More tears fell down the sides of his head and he felt ashamed, humiliated.

"It makes me feel better, anyways. I cried when I saw what he done to you,"

"Lucas?" Draco asked. He felt her nod.

"He was going to kill her too, y'know. He promised himself that he'd kill every girl that entered your life."

"How do you know this?"

She didn't answer.

"I'm trying to give you a clue here. Who are the four most important women in your life?" She asked, sitting up. Draco sat up also, ruffling his hair from the snow.

"You, mum, Hermione and Pansy. Am I right?"

Aerilyn nodded. "And what did I just say?"

"That he's going to kill them?"

She nodded again.

"But he can't kill you, you're-"

"Already dead, thanks for reminding me," She rolled her eyes.

"Sorry," Draco said, kicking himself for saying something so mean to her.

"But don't rush or anything, he's trapped in Snape's room." She said nonchalantly, waving at him.

"How do you know? You went to see him?" Draco's eyes went wide.

"I go and see him all the time. Remind him of what he's done. Freaks him out," She giggled.

Draco chuckled. "You have to come to see me like this more often,"

Aerilyn shook her head. "Nope," She said, popping the P. "I'll come to you when you feel most desperate to see me,"

"But I'm always desperate to see you," Draco said softly, looking at his hands.

"There are times when I want to come and see you… but I stop myself," She said, frowning as she played with some snow.

"Why?" Draco asked curiously. Aerilyn stared at him with glassy eyes.

"Because I want you to be happy," She sniffled. "I don't want you to hold onto the past. I want you to remember me, but I don't want you to live in the past just because of me. You have to… move on," She said, squeezing her eyes shut as if it pained her.

Draco shook his head. "No, I don't. I can live my life and have you visit me, all the time."

Aerilyn shook her head, blonde platinum hair swishing behind her back. "It doesn't work like that. I see you holding onto me. I feel it, Draco. You have to let me go. The only reason I can visit you is because you have this hold on me, and it's too strong. I can't get away to pass over to the other side, and I have to. It's where I belong. I don't belong in between. You and I… we're part of different lives now."

"No we're not," Draco shook his head, new tears running down his face.

"We are," Her bottom lip wobbled. "I stay here because I can feel that you need me and I'd never abandon my big brother, but it's not where I'm supposed to be. On the other side, I'll be happy and free, but keeping me in between worlds isn't making me… better. I'll never leave without your consent, but I just need you to know that this," She motioned between them. "Isn't supposed to be happening,"

Draco sniffled and whimpered, his eyelids wet.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realise that this wasn't right,"

"It's okay," Aerilyn shrugged. "I just need you to know before I decide to cross. I don't want you to be upset if I never show again. The time isn't right, just yet. I'll still pay you a couple more visits,"

"Okay," Draco nodded, wiping his face on his sleeves.

"Am I the only one that you visit?" Draco asked, looking at her. She crossed her small legs in front of her and took off her hat, revealing a purple ribbon wrapped around her head.

"No, like I said, I visit him to remind him of what he's done. I don't ever visit mum or dad… It might be too painful for them."

"You're probably right," Draco said.

Aerilyn sighed. "You and Hermione are going to get married, by the way."

Draco chuckled, tears still running down his face. "How do you know that?"

"I see it. I see everything, I told you." She smirked.

"And guess what?" She asked.

"What?" Draco asked, playing along.

"You're going to have two children. One of them's going to be named after me," She smiled shyly.

Draco smiled widely and took her hand. "You knew I'd name my child after you, didn't you?"

"Of course I did, I know what you're thinking," She laughed.

"Do you want to know anything else about your future?" She asked. Draco rolled his eyes.

"What are you, a fortune teller now?" He asked. She nodded, smiling brightly.

"I can tell you anything you want,"

Draco thought hard.

"When will I be happy?" He asked quietly.

Aerilyn's vision moved to a few feet away from them and she smiled happily, fading slowly.

"In about two minutes,"

"What?" Draco asked desperately, grabbing out for her. She gave one last giggle, before disappearing completely.

He groaned. "I never even got to say goodbye to you,"

"I know," A girl's voice spoke up. Draco's head whipped around and his eyes went wide. He scrambled up from the ground quickly; his black trousers stained white because of the snow and walked towards her quickly.

"Hermione," He breathed. A puff of smoke emerged from his mouth due to the cold and he shivered lightly. Her expression was still pained.

"I'm sorry." She apologised. "I should've come. I- I should've realised I wasn't safe, I- Ginny is…" She sounded out of breath, and desperate. "Ginny told Harry and Ron. I left before they could confront me. I can't tell them. I just can't- they'd hate me and… I told Ginny to tell them. She told them everything and," She took a deep breath. "I found this book in the library, just this morning, after you left and- and he was in it. He's not just a murderer, Draco. He… He's known for worshipping Voldemort. And he has followers- not a lot. But he still has them and," She took another deep breath. "He's planning something. I don't know what, but there's something and apparently it involves dark magic, really, really dark magic, like darker than Voldemort's so I just had to come here, and tell you. I told Ginny to tell Dumbledore too, so she done that and also… I might… kind of… like you." She finished sheepishly, tilting one side of her lips up into a half-smile.

Surprised at her sudden change in news, his eyes widened that little bit more and he swallowed.

"I might kind of like you too," He admitted. The other side of her lips joined the other and her mouth now represented a full smile.

"I brought the book," She remembered, twisting her body to reach into her beaded bag. Draco walked towards her until his boots touched the toes of hers.

"Forget the book just now," He breathed, putting his hands on either side of her face. His breath produced another puff of foggy air that chilled her face and he stared into her brown eyes for a moment before closing them and placing his lips on hers.

Despite it being a cold kiss, it was still enjoyable. Her lips were as soft as he remembered and it was sweet, not desperate and hot. It represented love this time, and not lust. He smacked her lips with his lightly when he pulled away, making the noise of a kiss.

She smiled shyly at him, making him smile back affectionately.

She was right. He was happy.

* * *

"You must be joking," Harry said to Ginny, his eyes wide. The remainder of Ron's muffin fell out of his mouth and he left it wide open for everyone to see the rest in his mouth.

"She didn't want to tell you because you hate-"

"That utter bastard! He will _not_ hurt Hermione," Harry raged, pulling out his wand. Ginny stared on curiously.

"Didn't you hear me? I said she was in love with _Draco Malfoy_,"

"I can't believe that cunt," Ron spoke up, making Ginny's eyes widen at his vulgar vocabulary.

"I heard that part," Harry said. "I don't give a damn who she likes, but someone tried to hurt her? Out of my fucking way," He shoved Ginny to the side, making her eyes go even wider at his vocabulary.

"I'm right behind you Harry," Ron said, following him as he got his wand out as well. Ginny rolled her eyes. When they were finished with Lucas, _then_ she'd remind them about Draco.

* * *

Draco got to lie stroking her hair that night as she fell asleep on his chest, cuddled into him like he was the only thing she ever needed. His armpit was dreadfully uncomfortable, but he cared too much about her to make her move. Her soft, deep breaths were the only sound in the tent and he sighed happily,

Until he realised that Blaise had been gone for over six hours.

* * *

**Uh Oh... Don't hate me for making Blaise go missing! I know I shouldn't reveal the ending, but I promise he'll live. I'd never kill Blaise off! *puts hand to chest, offended.***

**Haha, just joking. I hope you enjoyed Aerilyn's part in this chapter too- I like her character and I love her and Draco's relationship with each other! I think he'd be an amazing big brother. **

**If you're wondering how Aerilyn can visit Draco and don't understand her own explanation it's because I have a weird belief myself that when you die, you have to walk over a bridge of forgetfulness (which removes your memories from the life you've just been taken from) and then once you walk over it completely, you become in heaven! I've believed it for a long time and it might sound silly to you, but I think it would be interesting if that really happened.**

**Anyways, she's stuck in the little part between death and the bridge of forgetfulness because Draco just can't let her go. She lied about being able to visit their parents. Their parents let her go, they accepted her death. **

**But Draco didn't, and neither did Lucas. **

**^ That's just a little (almost) preview of Lucas's real feelings, by the way ;) **

**Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. This chapter, for some reason, was my favourite chapter to write (probably because of the Dramione-ness... such a romantic at heart, I am XD) and I hope you guys enjoy the frequent updates! **

**I was going to upload this chapter yesterday but I edited it beforehand and got contacts! Yes... contacts for your eyes! I'm just fed up with glasses. Do any of my readers wear contacts and can tell me anything about them? I have the disposable ones to reduce the risk of infection and such, it took me ages to get them in for the first time! Damn my reflexes...**

**Enough about me, however! Please let me know if I've made any mistakes! **

**-FallenForTheDraco**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

First of all, I'm extremely sorry for being absent for two weeks! I hope you guys understand that I had some family troubles, but I hope you enjoy this chapter even more!

We reached 100 reviews! That's crazy! Thank you guys so much, this story wouldn't have even happened without you.

Much thanks to: **Genia, XDramioneLoverx, NinjaClarinetGirlBianca, 8, memorable1102, Love in the rain, SasoriHime05, Nicnak24, Shay1010 & XxBrokenlySweet **for reviewing the last chapter!

Also thanks very much to the people who responded about wearing contact lenses! I've worn them a few times now and they're pretty good. I still have some trouble putting them in but I'm sure that with practice, I'll get better!

On another note, I don't know about anyone else, but whilst I'm writing my stories I very often listen to music. I was wondering if you guys would like me to upload a playlist, or direct you to a playlist of what songs I listened to whilst I was writing this fic. Just a thought, let me know!

Now, on with the story!

* * *

"Let go of me, you filthy tart!" Blaise growled uncharacteristically, his teeth bore. A long legged blonde smirked and let go of his collar, leaving him on the cold floor of the forest. She stepped around in front of him and his eyes widened.

"Astoria?"

She nodded, making her eyes go wide and innocent.

"What the hell?" Blaise breathed. "Why'd you drag me out here?"

"To kill you," She replied nonchalantly, her voice cold, like ice. There was no emotion in her face and even when she was evil, she was incredibly beautiful.

Blaise didn't want to admit that fear crept up his stomach. "What do you mean to kill me? Why would you wanna do that?"

"Oh Lord, this is getting so dramatic," Astoria rolled her eyes. "Lucas asked me to be all mysterious and creepy, like him, but I just cannot stand all that drama," She flipped her hair and scoffed.

"So here's the deal," She took a step closer to him. "Lucas wants Hermione, blah, blah, blah, Draco's in the way, blah, blah, blah, Draco has to die for Lucas to _get_ Hermione, _then_ he'll kill her, but we don't know where Draco is," Astoria acted innocent, as if telling a story from a book.

"But I knew where you were, and you're like his puppy, aren't you?" She began to taunt. "You follow him everywhere, always faithful, always reliable… wherever you are, Draco will be. Then we can capture him and he'll be no more, got it?"

"What the hell? What're you even getting out of this?" Blaise curled up his lip in distaste. Astoria breathed angrily through her nose and looked down at him, taking a step closer when he tried to crawl backwards.

"It all started in fourth year. I wanted you. You took that little bitch to the ball. I promised to get revenge on both of you when I could," She said, examining her nails.

"You won't touch her," Blaise said, suddenly serious.

"You won't be able to stop me," Astoria laughed and the sound was like tinkling bells. "You're dying first. Then Pansy. Then Hermione. Then Draco will have nobody," She shrugged. "We don't really care what happens to him, not like he's going to want to live after everyone important has been taken from his life," She chuckled.

Blaise was speechless.

"Now then, let's not waste time, shall we?" She said, transfiguring a stick into a dagger.

* * *

"We have to stop," Draco murmured in between kisses.

"Why?" Hermione asked, pulling away breathlessly. Draco looked into her eyes, mesmerised and then sighed in defeat, pulling her up for another kiss.

Since they'd been together, he couldn't get enough of her.

"I don't know where Blaise is," Draco said in a hushed voice, breathing rather erratically.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, suddenly alert, her eyes wide.

"He went for wood ages ago… I told myself I'd give him another hour before I went looking for him," He dipped in for another hot, passionate kiss.

"No, wait," She moved her head to the side, away from him. "What if he's hurt?"

Draco looked down at her, trying to process the thought, but he was too focused on her.

"He won't be, he'll just be taking longer because he has to carry it," Draco shook his head, breathing heavily. He tried to kiss her again, but failed as she moved her head once more.

"No! That's terrible, Draco. We'll have time for this later but right now we have to find him," She crawled out from underneath him, leaving him on all fours with his head hung. She kicked his shoe.

"Move!" She pressed.

Draco groaned, but smiled, and got up, following her out of the tent.

"Blaise!" She yelled. Draco raised an eyebrow at her, amused at her determination to find his friend and then sighed, following her down a steep hill.

"Blaise?" She yelled again.

Draco watched her, hat, scarf, gloves, snow boots and all and a tightening erupted in his stomach, warming his whole body. She was finally his, and she liked him back!

Driven with the sudden feeling of adoration that he had for her, he quietly walked up behind her and tangled his fingers in hers, holding her hand.

* * *

"Sir, there's something you may want to see," Snape said, with an unusual waver in his voice. For the length of time that Dumbledore had known him, he reckoned it was the closest thing to worry that Snape's voice could produce.

The uniqueness of Snape's expression and tone alerted Dumbledore of the seriousness of the situation and he was up, shuffled around his desk, and followed Snape to his office.

When they got there, the first thing that was noticeable was the door to Snape's office, falling off its own hinges. There were clear tears in the wood and what looked like scratch marks all the way down it. Dumbledore looked the door up and down, both in confusion and worry, and also fear.

"I don't have to look inside to know that he's gone, do I?" Dumbledore asked, raising his eyebrows. Snape shook his head slowly.

"Where have these marks came from?" He asked, running his hands along the door that was torn. Snape took in a shaky breath.

"As much as I despised teaching about werewolves and animagi in their third year… I didn't forge-"

"I think you might be right," Dumbledore said, moving from his crouched position quickly. He started walking quickly away from the office, making Snape walk quickly to catch up with him.

"But sir, surely he cannot be? Only very powerful wizards or witches can achieve such a goal,"

"That's what I thought too, until I remembered he was a Malfoy," Dumbledore said in a rather sad voice.

* * *

"Blaise?!" Hermione continued to shout.

"Why don't we send him a patronus or something? It doesn't look like he's around here anywhere," Draco said, squinting beyond the trees.

"Let's split up," Hermione said bravely. Draco was about to disagree when she jogged away in front of him. Sighing, he went to the left of him and began searching as well.

"Blaise? Blaise!"

"Ugh," Hermione grunted as she made her way down a snowy hill. The snow hadn't stopped since she'd made her journey to get Draco and so it was up to her ankles now, making her search exceedingly difficult.

"Blai- oh," She gasped.

A large, blue eyed wolf stepped out in front of her, looking as cute, but vicious, as ever. Hermione took in a staggered breath and fake smiled.

"Hi there," She said in an affectionate pet voice, taking a cautious step down the hill.

The wolf, very cutely, tilted its head to the side, as if trying to understand her and then took a small step forward, leaving one paw hanging in the air.

"Hi," She grinned animatedly, as if talking to a baby. She reached one hand towards it extremely slowly, much reacting the way Harry did towards Buckbeak in their third year and then stroked some snow off of its head, smiling slightly when it nudged her hand with its nuzzle.

The wolf flicked its head to the side, its ears going down in fear and something akin to obedience. It whimpered lightly before running up the hill that Hermione had just come down and sped off, leaving her confused. She looked to where the wolf had and noticed another wolf, bigger this time, and scarier looking, and gulped quietly. This one had grey eyes, the same colour as its long, luscious coat that reminded her of something she feared the most.

"Um… There, there," She tried, not being used to dogs since she had a cat.

The wolf growled and bore his teeth to her, threatening her immediately. Hermione swallowed again and licked her very dry lips.

"Nice doggy," She tried, laughing lightly.

It responded by barking extremely loud and snapped its jaw at her, threatening her. Hermione jumped back and held her hands out in front of her instinctively, as if it would somehow save her and began to take steps backwards cautiously, her eyes always on the wolves.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," She said, her hand still between them. The wolf continued to growl, showing off his sharp teeth.

"Oh my god," Hermione whispered to herself, turning around as she tried to get back up the snowy hill.

An even angrier bark forced her vision back in front of her and she swallowed thickly. Could this wolf kill her? No… surely not, right? She had her wand, but was paralysed in fear and figured that before she could even utter a spell, the wolf would be on her.

A scream left Hermione's mouth involuntarily as she was thrown backwards, the wolf's large paws landing conveniently on her biceps to hold her down. She thrashed her head around and scrunched her eyes shut, but then realised all she was doing was using up valuable energy and stopped, peering up at the wolf with one eye open.

It growled and snapped its jaw at her, making her whine uncharacteristically. Small tears leaked from her eyes and her mind raced for a solution to her problem but she began to panic so much that her mind shut down and she could only rely on her instincts.

She closed her eyes again and grit her teeth together, turning her head to the side. Although this revealed her entire, creamy neck to the wolf, she just didn't want her face to be chewed off by it, and turned away.

She frowned as a pressure was taken off of her. There was still immense force on her biceps, but not as much. It also didn't feel as frigid as a paw and fingers were now wrapped around her arms, keeping her to the floor. Curiosity forced her head to turn, and she realised that the wolf had now turned into a boy.

A Malfoy boy.

He lay panting above her, a psychotic grin on his face and sweat dripping from his forehead. Hermione frowned, her body calming immediately and her mind began to slowly work again.

"You!" She said angrily, trying to move her arms. He was too strong.

"Oh don't try and move, sweetheart, nothing will happen."

"Why are you doing this?!" Hermione shouted at him.

"My reasons aren't what's important to you," He said, his voice calming a little. He then grinned manically. "My intentions are what you should worry about,"

Hermione's eyes went wide and she swallowed, trying to think of something.

"Stupefy!" A small, dainty voice called. Hermione quickly used her chance and threw Lucas off of her, getting up quickly. She examined him before turning around to see who used the spell. A small, beautiful blonde headed girl stood before her, smirking slightly.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked. The girl tilted her head up slightly.

"You must be Hermione," She giggled, grey eyes sparkling. As Hermione frowned, prepared to ask her again, who she was, the girl skipped away happily, making Hermione's eyes go wide.

"No, wait!" She called, running after the little girl.

* * *

"Did you have any idea that your son is an animagus?" Dumbledore asked, his voice professional and stern. McGonagall gasped, a hand going up to her mouth in fear and Narcissa's mouth also dropped.

"What?" She whispered. Lucius swallowed.

"We fear Lucas may have been taught it by a teacher in Durmstrang,"

"What makes you think he's an animagus? Surely he's not that smart… Draco couldn't even do this," Lucius said.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment. "Lucas is gone. The door has been torn apart by teeth and some sort of claw,"

"I'll be contacting the headmaster of Durmstrang in an hour to sort this, Severus, please escort Mr and Mrs Malfoy to their room for the night, Minerva, if you please, come with me to see if we can find Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger, and also Mr Zabini."

"Sir! Sir!" Harry bust through the door. He was left startled for a moment as he took in Mr and Mrs Malfoy, but then marched up to Dumbledore's desk, laying both his hands in front of him as he leaned on Dumbledore's table.

"I am aware of Miss Granger's disappearance, Harry," Dumbledore said quickly to calm him, laying a hand on top of his.

"It's not that, professor. Astoria Greengrass is missing too, I think her and Lucas may be up to something and I've just received this," Harry pulled an envelope out of his pocket and set it on Dumbledore's table. Dumbledore looked at it suspiciously, and then his eyes flicked back up to Harry's.

"It's safe. I opened it."

Deeming the package safe through Harry's admittance, he picked up the envelope and emptied the contents onto the table.

A purple ribbon, a stud earring and an old silver ring fell out of it.

Harry's hands seem to shake with what people assumed was anger. "That's Hermione's earring."

"That's Blaise's ring, too, but I don't know about the purple ribbon, it could be Astoria's, I think she might be in trouble,"

"That's not Astoria's ribbon," Narcissa said from behind them. She'd stood up, her handbag fallen to the floor and her bottom lip wobbled. Tears were evident in her eyes.

"It's Aerilyn's."

* * *

"Wait! I'm not going to hurt you, how do you know my name?" Hermione called. The small girl turned around and frowned slightly, putting a finger vertically up against her lips.

"Shh!" She said, stopping behind a tree. Hermione frowned at her and then looked to where the girl had taken her.

"Why are we-"

"Shhhh!" She said again, silencing Hermione. Hermione looked at her in slight amusement, but then looked in front of the tree where the girl was.

"Any minute now," The small girl whispered. Hermione looked at her and then peered behind the tree again, waiting for anything, before she heard grunting and protesting. Her eyes went wide as Astoria Greengrass dragged Blaise out from behind a bunch of trees by his collar, her wand in her hand.

"Now then, I'm sure Draco or his little girlfriend won't find you here, let's get this over with,"

Hermione's eyes got wider as she recognised Astoria's wand and her hand went to her back pocket to receive her own when she panicked, as she couldn't feel it. She looked in front of her helplessly, Blaise's fate in her own hands and then looked down to the girl, prepared to ask for a wand before the girl smirked and presented her with her own.

"I knew your mind would shut down the minute you seen my scary brother. Figured you might need some help," She grinned. Hermione stared at the small girl in utter amazement.

"Brilliant," She whispered, seeing part of herself in the girl. She took the wand and hid further behind the tree, her wand pointed at Astoria.

"Don't do this Astoria," Blaise panted, almost pleading. His beg made her smirk evilly and she bent over slightly to whisper something to him.

"What are you waiting for?" The girl asked Hermione. Hermione nodded and then swallowed, shooting a series of spells at Astoria to catch her off guard. When she stumbled back, and was a safe measurement away from Blaise, Hermione finally stupefied her and ran over to Blaise, the small girl following her.

"Hermione?" Blaise asked, his eyes wide. He got up quickly, wiping snow off of his jeans and looked at her again. "That was all you?"

Hermione nodded slightly and wrapped her arms around Blaise's back as he enveloped her in a hug. He then looked to the small figure behind her and done a double take.

"Aerilyn?" He whispered. She smiled at him slightly.

"Aerilyn?" Hermione repeated, turning around to the girl. She smirked slightly at Hermione and then turned to Blaise, her expression turning slightly soft.

"I just had to make sure you were okay," She explained. Tears pricked the ends of Blaise's eyes and he dropped to her height on one of his knees, his hand reaching out to her.

She slapped his hand away comically and smirked at him. "I'm real, you idiot. Now go find my brother,"

Blaise shook his head, taking himself out of his sentimental daze and he chuckled slightly, noticing how in that moment, his and Aerilyn's relationship was defined. She was like his second brother.

"Wait, wait, this is _the_ Aerilyn?" Hermione asked, trying to make sense of the situation.

"You'll find out soon," Aerilyn smiled at her, before winking and disappearing.

"She's a little character," Hermione said, still rather amused at the little girls intelligence. Blaise smiled, his memory being filled with ones of her.

"Yeah, she is."

* * *

"Wait, who is Aer-aer," Harry struggled to pronounce the name.

"Aerilyn," Narcissa repeated for him, smiling slightly. She took in a shaky breath and then her eyes lifted to Dumbledore's.

"Draco must take it everywhere… but I have no idea where he got it, she was buried wearing it,"

"Perhaps she had a spare?" Harry asked, his mood calming a lot.

Narcissa shook her head. "She was opposed to wearing two ribbons at the one time, so she only had one of every colour,"

"Maybe Draco just bought one the same colour then," Harry offered. Lucius stood up, his eyes scarily angrily.

"Or maybe it was him that dug up her grave,"

* * *

"Where could he be, though? We split up trying to look for you," Hermione cried hysterically, trying to get up another snowy hill.

Blaise stopped slightly, panting against a tree.

"You guys came to look for me?" He was touched.

"Of course we came to look for you! You're Draco's best friend, and one of mine too now, we couldn't just leave you, and we're lucky we did come and look for you or that crazy bitch could've killed you," She said. Blaise smiled slightly at her concern and followed her up the hill.

"Wait, did you hear that?" She stopped suddenly, turning to her right a little.

Blaise strained to hear what she was wearing, looking at her with a questioning expression. "No," He said, trying to still his body so that he could hear as much as possible.

Before he could hear anything else, Hermione darted in her right direction, stumbling slightly because of the snow.

"That's Draco's voice," She panted. Blaise hurried to keep up with her and followed her, running, until they came to a small open space.

"Draco!" Hermione sighed, all of the worry leaving her head. She went to move towards him but he turned to her, panic etched upon his face.

"Don't!" He shouted, halting her movements. "Don't touch me,"

"Why?" She asked.

Draco swallowed. "Lucas put some sort of charm on me that will kill you if you touch me, I don't want to risk it," Draco said quickly.

Hermione's breath caught in her throat and she blinked. "What?"

* * *

And that was chapter 13!

I hope you guys enjoyed it. In this chapter, and the few next chapters, you'll learn a lot more about Aerilyn, her past and Lucas's past. There's quite a lot of accusations that get thrown around and the truth will seem hazy, but all will be cleared up soon and the next chapter should be up today or tomorrow! I also hope you guys forgive me for my hiatus and thank you so much for getting me to 100 reviews! That's so crazy and I appreciate everything from you.

-FallenForTheDraco


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

Thank you to: **XDramioneLoverx, PearlAmor, Genia, Adams, Ch1yom1, articcat621, XxBrokenlySweet & Mimi **For reviewing the last chapter!

I hope you guys understand this chapter and I hope I tied up some loose ends... It is rather confusing, so if you need like an overview of the whole situation then just let me know!

Also, thank you to everyone who has favourited and followed this story, I love every single one of you.

* * *

"Why would he do that?" Blaise asked, shaking his head. Draco blinked and looked down sadly.

"Because he wasn't lying when he said he wanted me to be miserable,"

"He thinks he can just do that!?" Hermione burst out loudly. Draco lifted his head to look at her.

"Yeah…"

"What spell did he use?" Hermione asked, determined to see if Draco was being truthful or not.

"I dunno… I can't remember what he said, but it sounded Latin and it definitely began with an R… I think… it wasn't just one word though, it was like a curse or something, it was a sentence and then all these black waves just crashed towards me… He could be bluffing… He could've lied about what the spell done or… he could've made it worse than it sounds," Draco said, fearing the worst.

"We can figure this out; we'll go back to Hogwarts. Lucas is out here, looking for us, he won't know we've gone back and we can tell Dumbledore, and Harry," Hermione said, her voice rushed.

"She's right mate," Blaise said after a moment of silence. Draco nodded sadly but then frowned.

"Apparate to the lake; I can't hold your hand to apparate with you so just meet me there, alright?"

Hermione nodded and grabbed Blaise's rough hand, looking at Draco sadly before swishing away in a swirl of apparation.

* * *

"Who is Aerilyn, though?" Harry repeated his earlier question. Narcissa took a deep breath, as if the question had pained her and then licked her lips, prepared to answer.

"She was-is… our daughter," Lucius said for her, putting his hand on top of Narcissa's. Harry's eyes went a little wide and he looked at the couple peculiarly, as if trying to detect a lie, but then looked down and pursed his lips.

"I'm sorry for your loss,"

"How did you know we lost her?" Lucius asked.

"You said 'was' before you said is and your wife is clearly upset about this. It's clear that she's… not with us anymore, and you mentioned that someone may have dug up a grave," Harry replied. Lucius nodded to him respectively and bowed his head, blinking back a few tears as Narcissa got a handkerchief of out of handbag and dabbed her eyes with it.

"So, Draco carries around a ribbon to always keep his sister close to him, Hermione had her earrings stolen because I know for a fact that she wasn't wearing them the last time I saw her… And Blaise always wears his ring; I've noticed that, so how did Lucas get them? It's obvious he could've just snuck into Hermione's room but… I'm pretty sure she would hide these somewhere; they're her most valuable possession, apart from her wand."

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "I am not sure harry,"

"We've got to find them… Blaise has no one else. Draco must not be put above him, do you hear?" Narcissa said. "His family died in the war… we're all he has and we treat him as a son. He can't be left behind just because Hermione and Draco are important, alright?"

Harry looked at Narcissa with a new frame of mind. "Don't worry Mrs Malfoy, we'll find them all,"

* * *

"Where do you think a book on dark curses would be?" Hermione demanded from the librarian. The librarian frowned slightly, but feared her no-shit attitude and pointed to the restricted section.

"That's the only place you'll find books about deadly or dark curses,"

"We have to go there," Hermione said.

The librarian shrugged nonchalantly. "You're not allowed to go there,"

"You don't understand, we need a book that's in there," Blaise said hurriedly.

The librarian smirked slightly. "I only said you weren't allowed, I didn't say I'd stop you," She raised her eyebrow. Hermione smiled back and walked quickly to the restricted section, Draco and Blaise following.

"Okay, Blaise, look up 'C', Draco you look up 'D' and I'll just skim read all the titles," Hermione commanded, rushing up to the back bookshelf.

In twenty five minutes, a table filled up with at least fifteen books, all at least eight hundred pages. Hermione and the two young boys stared helplessly down at the table.

"We don't have time for this," Hermione voiced their thoughts.

"What else can we do? We can't ask Dumbledore, he might not even know about a spell like this, this is the only chance we've got,"

Hermione licked her lips and sat down on the chair. "Okay, let's get started then,"

* * *

"You said someone dug up your daughters grave, what's the story surrounding that?" Harry asked, looking through a book desperately. Dumbledore searched his memories and had the pensive out.

"We don't really know any story… We just came to her graveside one day and it was just different… The soil was new and it was soil that you would plant with… it wasn't just dirt from the ground. Plus there were markings on the grass that suggested her… she was lifted out." Narcissa said, roaming her memory for any information.

"Who and for what reason would dig her up? Unless of course they were…" Dumbledore's eyes went wide.

"What?" Harry asked urgently.

Dumbledore swallowed, making everyone in the room anxious. Whenever Dumbledore was worried, something bad was definitely happening.

"Well? Have you found something?" Lucius asked.

"I fear that-"

"Headmaster," Snape burst through the door, rushing to Dumbledore's table. Everyone suddenly got goose bumps and stared at the two professors strangely.

"You have found something?" Dumbledore asked, standing up to look over his desk at the book that Snape was holding.

"The one thing the Malfoy boy wants is for his brother to become miserable. I looked up the Malfoy's history and read about their daughter being dug up. She's not dead, she's alive!" Snape said urgently, his eyes wide.

* * *

"This is hopeless," Hermione squeezed her eyes with the bottoms of her palms.

"I feel like the only one who has answers is Lucas," Blaise sighed angrily. Draco was rather silent, which was unusual for him.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, frowning at him. He licked his lips and then nodded, sighing sadly.

"Yeah… I'm fine. I just wish…" Draco started, putting his head in his hands.

"You just wish what?" Hermione asked, flinching when she went to put her hand on his, remembering that she couldn't.

"I just wish I could touch you," Draco said sadly. Blaise took this as his queue to leave and gathered up some of the books, leaving the pair alone.

"I know… I do too…" Hermione said sadly. Draco lifted his head to look at her and began to rant.

"No… you don't understand. If I'd known that in the tent would be the last time I could hug you… kiss you… I wouldn't have let go," He said. Hermione swallowed and looked at him sadly.

"It might not be the last time… There might be a way to reverse it," She said hopefully. Draco shook his head.

"Knowing Lucas, there won't be, he wants me to be miserable… Well, now I am,"

Hermione bit her lip and frowned, trying to think of something that would make him happy.

"Guys," Blaise rushed back to the table, alerting them.

"My ring is missing, and I didn't take it off," He frowned, leaning on the end of the table. Draco looked at Hermione, frowning, and then back to Blaise.

"Well… What, you think it means something?" Draco shook his head.

"I don't know… Draco I think," Blaise bit his lip, looking at Hermione almost hesitantly. "I think we need to speak to the one person that Lucas is afraid of,"

Draco sighed. "I can't, she only comes to me when I really need her, apparently," He rolled his eyes.

"Well, we need her now." Blaise frowned. "She could be the only one who knows what's going on."

Hermione's eyes went back and forth between the two boys like a tennis ball before she finally spoke up. "Who is she that may know everything?"

Draco took a deep breath. "Aerilyn,"

"Then… call her or whatever you do… We need to talk to her, it's worth a try," Hermione said, looking at Blaise. Draco sighed and closed his eyes over.

"But I don't know how to get a hold of her, well I do… but… I've never told anyone about it," He said rather ashamedly. Blaise sat down on the chair beside him and shook his head.

"Look mate, your problems are your problems, I don't care if you've kept a secret from me, you don't have to tell me everything, I'm not annoyed that you haven't told me so don't look at me like that. You're my friend and I trust you, just try and contact her whatever way you have before," Blaise said. Hermione nodded when Draco looked at her.

"Fine," Draco bit his lip, reaching into his pocket. He frowned after a moment of searching and then his eyes went wide.

"I can't find it," He panicked.

"What can't you find?" Hermione asked, standing up as Draco did. Blaise looked worriedly at Hermione. Draco began to shake with anxiety and fear.

"Her ribbon, I can't… I can't find it," He shouted, searching all of his pockets.

"It's a ribbon that you use?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Did it belong to her?"

Draco nodded, still trying to search for it. Hermione's eyes went wide and she ran to a bookcase, searching for a book they'd previously looked at. Blaise licked his lips and then his jaw dropped a little.

"Do you think they have something to do with each other? My missing ring… Aerilyn's ribbon… It's like someone's taken things from us, things that mean something to us,"

Draco was still shaking, rechecking every single one of his pockets. In anger, he lashed out at Blaise. "That was my dead sisters ribbon, what the fuck does a ring mean to you?!" He frowned. Blaise blinked and pursed his lips.

"… It was my fathers,"

Draco stopped searching and closed his eyes over, leaning on the table.

"Shit…" He whispered. "Blaise, I'm sorry,"

Blaise still looked hurt, but nodded. "It's alright," He slapped Draco on the back. "I know this is hard for you,"

Draco licked his dry lips. "That doesn't give me an excuse to be an arsehole to the one person who's stuck by me through everything,"

Blaise looked at his friend, frowning. "No, it doesn't, but that person who's stuck by you through everything knows better now than to believe the harsh things you say when you're worried,"

Draco breathed in deeply, suddenly appreciating how much Blaise was in his life. "Sometimes you know me better than I know myself," Draco said deeply. Blaise half-smiled, despite their situation.

"Mate, I do know you better than you know yourself. And you know me better than I know myself. I know you'd do the same for me,"

"I would," Draco said quickly. "You know that, don't you?"

Blaise nodded slightly. "Yeah," He said quietly. Draco sighed and clenched his jaw.

"Would it be gay if I hugged you right now?"

Blaise laughed, opening his arms. "Always,"

But Draco hugged him anyways, patting him on the back.

Sometimes Blaise was the most important person in his world. He sometimes forgot all of the things that Blaise had done for him, but that didn't make him any less special. It made him a friend; it made him his best friend.

* * *

"WHAT?!" Lucius exploded.

"She-" Narcissa whispered.

"Well, she's not… alive, at least not yet,"

"Yet?" Everyone in the room echoed.

"Her grave has been dug up, correct?" Snape asked, passing the book over to Dumbledore.

Narcissa and Lucas nodded. "It hasn't just been dug up once; it's being dug up several times a month,"

"What?!" Lucas repeated.

"Someone could be giving her blood transfusions, or worse… swapping their blood with hers,"

"What good would that do?" Harry asked quickly.

"I don't know the intention of it yet… but it has to be a family member, someone who shares her blood type, but not only her blood type… the same part veela she has in her blood, the same pureblood status, everything must be precise for it to happen… there's only two people it could be," Snape said, panting.

"Draco or Lucas," Harry breathed.

"And Draco wouldn't do this," Dumbledore said.

"That's where you might be wrong…" Snape said, a regretful look on his face. Everyone blinked.

"What? You think Draco is the one who digs up our daughter's grave? Surely he's not that cruel," Lucius said, shaking his head and laughing bitterly.

Snape breathed in deeply. "I know it sounds silly… but Draco has lost weight over the last few months… he's gotten paler, thinner, dark circles around his eyes, I…"

"Oh god," Narcissa whimpered. "We have no real children… do we? They're both evil and one's dead… We'll never be a proper family," She cried. "That was the only thing I wanted in life,"

* * *

"You say you could call her from the dead, with the ribbon?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded.

"It makes you part medium. Being able to call people is extremely rare and only a few people in the Wizarding world were able to do it. One of your ancestors, Robina Abraxas Malfoy could do it too, it must've been passed down from her, and she's the only other one who had it,"

Draco swirled the book around to face him and looked at the picture of his ancestor, choking on the breath he took in when he saw her picture. He passed it away from himself, breathing erratically, Blaise took it and his jaw dropped too. Hermione stared on curiously.

Blaise looked at Draco before pushing the book towards Hermione. "That isn't Robina… that's Aerilyn, for sure,"

Hermione blinked. "What? It can't be… Aerilyn is about seven, this woman is… at least sixteen."

"It has to be her," Blaise replied.

"Well, it's Malfoy genes… Maybe they just look alike," Hermione almost pleaded.

"I know my sister. That's her. Why does it say she was born in 1946?" Draco asked, regaining his breath. Hermione swallowed, looking at him.

"Because she was," Hermione blinked. Draco shook his head.

"No, I was there when she was born. I looked at her the day she came into this world, this book has to be wrong," Draco demanded.

"This has only happened in a few situations… When someone has been… reborn."

Draco's eyes flicked around Hermione's face. "I don't understand,"

"You explained that Aerilyn and you could contact each other. That's because when Robina died she was stuck between our world and the next. The only thing a person wants in that place is their life back, and she must've figured out how to get it, because then she was reborn, as Aerilyn."

"What?" Draco frowned.

"She's right," A small, dainty voice called out.

Aerilyn smirked and hopped up onto Blaise's knees. "Very good, Hermione,"

She smiled at her brother. "Hi,"

"You came," He breathed.

"I wasn't going to," She raised her eyebrows. "But I knew I had to,"

"That's why you're so smart," Draco frowned. "Because you're sixteen, aren't you?"

Aerilyn nodded and then rolled her eyes. "It was so stupid having to babble as a baby when I could simply talk to you guys but… I guess growing up again was… fun, in a way."

"So you're really like my distant cousin or something?" Draco frowned.

"No," Aerilyn shrugged. "I'm still your sister. I _am_ Aerilyn, I just used to be known as Robina, but that's a disgusting name," She scoffed. "Plus, I'm the exact same person… I look the same… talk the same, etc. I don't really know how it happened," She frowned.

"You died very young, didn't you?" Hermione asked Aerilyn. Aerilyn breathed in deeply.

"Yes… I was seventeen and eaten alive by this wolf… Then, I was killed by my brother,"

"What do you remember about the wolf?" Hermione asked quickly and suddenly.

Aerilyn frowned. "I'm not sure… Only that it had these surprisingly beautiful… grey eyes," Aerilyn whispered the last part in realisation.

"Your brother killed you twice," Hermione announced, slamming the book shut.

"What? He wasn't even alive in 1946, how could he have killed her?" Draco asked. Blaise looked too surprised and dazed to say anything.

"I'm not sure," Hermione bit her lip.

"I met Lucas once… When I was between dimensions," Aerilyn bit her lip.

"What? How? I am so confused," Draco admitted.

"But by then I was known as Robina… I… I left him for another man."

"He came back to get revenge on you." Hermione finished.

Aerilyn nodded. "He must have… but as my brother?"

"It was the only way he saw fit," Hermione replied, trying to put herself in Lucas's situation.

"But if a woman left me for someone else, I'd want revenge on the guy, I wouldn't want revenge on the girl," Draco frowned.

Aerilyn stared at Draco ashamedly. "That's just it… I didn't just leave him for some random man… I left him… for you."

* * *

"What reason would Draco have to dig up his sister every month and transfer her blood?" Harry asked, massaging his temples. Snape had left, and now the room was only filled with McGonagall, the Malfoy's, Harry and Dumbledore. McGonagall had slowly dozed off, and nobody had the heart to wake her.

"I don't see any reason, Harry. Perhaps we should try and figure out reasons on why Lucas would," Dumbledore said. Harry nodded and flicked through the book that Snape had left, worry filling his head.

"What? So we're all incest freaks?" Draco shouted, his face pulled in a disgusted expression.

* * *

"Well, it wasn't you." Aerilyn clarified. "It was definitely not you, it was someone who looked like you though, talked like you, basically had the same life as you. I was known as Robina then and… I loved Lucas; he was like a brother to me. That's what I always repeated to him… That's probably why he came back as my brother. But then there was this man I met called Xevadiah and he was… Amazing in every single way. There was no choice: he was better than Lucas. Don't you see?" Aerilyn suddenly burst, noticing their curious stares.

"No, we don't see," Draco frowned.

Aerilyn rolled her eyes. "This is just the past repeating itself. Hermione chose you over Lucas; he's being rejected all over again, and for the same 'other guy.' He tried to kill you the same way he tried to kill me," Aerilyn said, looking at Hermione. "He tried to eat you alive, but I stopped him because I could. I remember being in that position and just wishing that someone would pop up out of nowhere and save me and nobody did… but then when I knew what he was going to do, I realised… I could give you the life that I never had,"

A tear rolled down Hermione's face and she wiped it away quickly.

"You gave her a chance with me," Draco said, looking up at Hermione. "The chance that you didn't get with Xevadiah,"

Aerilyn smiled. "Yes, but because I died, I don't know what's happening next," She said, sighing sadly.

"What happened to Xevadiah?" Blaise slipped in, slowly coming to terms with everything.

Aerilyn swallowed. "He grieved for me for a while, but then he married another woman and had a beautiful daughter called Narcissa." She smiled.

"I guess… in a way I'm glad. I'm glad I died so that he could move on and have Narcissa, and then I'm glad she had you, because my life as Aerilyn has been so much better just because of you," She looked at Draco.

"I know that it's hard for you to come to terms that Lucas and I were once in a relationship, but you have to trust me when I say that we weren't related at all. Nothing about this is freaky or incest-y, okay?"

"No, I know," Draco nodded. "My opinion of my little sister wouldn't change if she was in a relationship with my brother anyways, but… Let me just get this straight: You were in a relationship with him as Robina when you were seventeen, and _then_ he came back as your brother because the excuse that you used was 'I love you like a brother'?" Draco asked.

Aerilyn nodded. "That's basically it…"

"But how did Lucas die, if you dated in another dimension?" Hermione asked confusedly. Aerilyn frowned.

"I don't know really, he would never tell me the entire story. But he said it was whilst making some deadly potion…"

"Did he ever give you any details on it?" Blaise asked, frowning.

"Only that he needed important possessions from his prey," She shrugged. Blaise and Draco looked at each other with wide, worried eyes.

"What?" Aerilyn asked, sensing everyone's tension.

"What did this potion do?" Draco asked sternly.

Aerilyn confusedly replied, "Well- it killed them,"

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed! **

****Just in case you don't understand this all:

Robina is Aerilyn.

Robina fell for Lucas in the world between worlds. The place where Aerilyn described a few chapters back. (Lucas died in his past world from creating a deadly potion that required important possessions from the people he wanted to kill)

Robina left Lucas for a man who was like Draco, and left him by telling him "I love you like a brother."

Robina's wish was to have her life back and she was reborn again as Narcissa's daughter. (How she done this will be explained in the next chapter)

To get revenge, Lucas also came back as Robina's brother, because she'd said that she loved him like a brother. Now, this is when Robina becomes Aerilyn.

Draco is Aerilyn's big brother. Lucas is now also Draco's big brother.

Hermione is in the same situation as Robina: She has to choose between Draco and Lucas.

She chooses Draco, as Robina did and now Lucas hates Hermione too. He tries to kill her the same way that he killed Robina (by eating her alive as a wolf)

But Aerilyn/Robina stopped this from happening.

If you don't still understand, then message me and I'll try to make it clearer. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and let me know if I've made any mistakes!

-FallenForTheDraco


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

**AGH! **Sorry for the rather long wait again. I intended to upload this chapter just after I'd uploaded chapter 14 but my mind just thought that pieces were missing and I even made myself confused with the plans I had written out. It took me a while to get my head around and I had to ditch a few ideas because they just didn't fit the storyline. If I had confused myself, I didn't want to confuse you guys too. :(

**Huge, incredibly massive thank you & hugs to: **SasoriHime05, Genia, XDramioneLoverx, Tori Kay, XxBrokenlySweet, Freaked out anon, (haha!) Ch1yom1, Rika Darkblade, The White Ace, Mimi and SlytherinGurrl!

**Also a massive thank you & hugs to people who have favourited and followed this story! **

**Tori Kay: **Yeah! Snape probably would have and since Snape is their Uncle, he should have known what Lucas had previously done, but you'll see how Lucas prevented this from happening in the next chapter!

**Freaked out anon: **LOL! Your review actually made me laugh! The earrings are explained in this chapter, thankfully!

I hope to reply to more people in the next chapter but for now all I can say to you is **thank you! **This story wouldn't even be here without you, so you should all give yourselves a hug. From me. If that isn't weird... I don't recommend doing this in front of a family member, they may find it a tad insane...

I am not leaving this chapter on a cliffhanger and you won't have to wait long for the next chapter because this chapter truly is a cliffhanger... Sorry! I couldn't resist!

The song I listened to whilst writing this chapter was: **New York **by **Snow Patrol **

**Now, I shall say bye for a few moments whilst you read this chapter! I hope you enjoy! **

* * *

"We need to find out everything about that potion," Draco said. Blaise politely put his hands on Aerilyn's tiny waist and lifted her down from his lap.

"Well, excuse me little lady," he said, getting up. "But I'm going to see Snape, he's a potions master and it'll be faster than reading a book," Blaise said, heading off without an answer from the other three. Aerilyn stood, even smaller than Draco when he was sitting and bit her lip.

"Is there anything I can do?" She asked timidly. Draco looked at her and shook his head.

"No, you can get back to whatever you… do… in this other place,"

Just as Aerilyn looked rejected, Hermione spoke up. "Actually,"

Aerilyn and Draco both looked at her.

"I have a job that you'd be excellent at," Hermione almost smirked.

* * *

"Professor, I can't help but realise this is the exact thing we need Hermione for. She'd be able to tell us in an instant," Harry said desperately. Dumbledore was silent for a moment.

"Why don't you get your friend, Mr Weasley to come and lend a hand?"

"Ron? But he… doesn't know much, sir."

"No," Dumbledore reasoned. "But he's the one person I know with a rather vivid imagination, and sometimes even the craziest theories can be the correct ones,"

Harry nodded, realisation in his eyes, before he got up and walked quickly to the door.

Dumbledore laid a hand on his fist and swirled the book towards him, blowing out a sigh.

"What's your secret, Draco?" He murmured, flicking the page.

* * *

"Professor, thank Merlin I found you," Blaise said, out of breath from running. He leaned one hand on the wall as Snape turned to him, his eyes rather wide.

"You're alive," He almost breathed. Blaise frowned and nodded.

"I have a lot to tell you, but first of all, I need your help," Blaise said, his eyes desperate.

Still frowning from a strange feeling of relief that Blaise was alright, Snape nodded soundlessly and pushed open the door to his office. He dusted off the emotion as simple worry for his student. The boy had most definitely _not_ grown on him. He was still a menace.

* * *

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Aerilyn asked Hermione with a small, doubtful frown. Hermione leaned over the girl slightly as they peeked around the corner and nodded.

"Yes. I'm positive, we just need to get you in without being caught," Hermione said, gulping when she realised it wouldn't be easy.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Aerilyn shook her head.

"Okay, wait. I have a friend who can help us out," Hermione said, waving her wand to send a patronus to Ginny.

"I have a better idea," She explained when Aerilyn looked at her confusedly.

Breathing in deeply, Aerilyn hoped to God that Hermione's plan would work.

* * *

"Do you have any idea what kind of potion this is?" Blaise asked desperately to Snape. They both sat on stools in his office over a corner of his table. Snape sighed, racking his brain.

"There are only two that I can think of from the top of my head, but they don't fit the description exactly,"

"What do you mean?" Blaise pressed, frowning. Snape frowned and opened his mouth before closing it again, much resembling a fish. He opened it again to reply.

"There's a potion that requires important possessions but there has to be life inside them for it to work. An object such as a ring or a ribbon isn't enough- it would have to contain some sort of soul or spirit and as for the other potion I can think of, well, it simply wouldn't work, since the brewer must be female. Unless Lucas has been hiding that he is, in fact, a woman, then it just cannot be."

"Okay, thank you sir." Blaise said, getting up. Snape grabbed his arm before he shot out of the door and turned to him.

"Draco- is he alright?" Snape asked, frowning.

Blaise frowned also. "Yeah, he's fine. Last I seen him, he was in the library with Hermione and-" Almost slipping up on Aerilyn, Blaise stuttered. "And they were looking through potion books,"

Snape seemed to let go of a breath that he didn't even know he was holding and nodded. "I'm… glad, you're okay."

Blaise nodded, sensing his head of house's discomfort for affection and thanked him, leaving the room.

* * *

"Are you sure this will work?" Aerilyn repeated, worry set in her face. Hermione nodded and Ginny stood up straight, snapping her portable hairbrush back in place.

Slowly, Aerilyn turned to face the mirror and her heart tugged at what she almost had, but didn't quite get there in the end. She stood in a Slytherin uniform with her hair straight, blonde and long down her back. A ribbon was in her hair and she was a few inches taller thanks to magic.

"If I hadn't seen you before, I would honestly think that you were just another student here," Ginny offered her opinion. Aerilyn smiled at her and sighed loudly.

"Okay, let's get this over and done with," She agreed. Hermione nodded and shoved a book that she'd been carrying underneath her arm.

"Let's go over the plan one more time," She said, using numerous hand gestures.

* * *

Draco put his head in his hands and squeezed his eyes shut with the heel of his palms. Nothing was working out. He'd gone through countless books about being a medium, rebirth, deadly potions and spells that could kill you but found absolutely nothing.

He couldn't help but wonder if Lucas had lied to them on purpose, to throw them all off of his game.

* * *

Blaise walked through the corridors of Hogwarts once again, revelling in the peacefulness and security that seemed to radiate from the walls. He felt safe here. He might as well enjoy it while it lasted.

As he thought about what else he could do to help, the wind seemed to pick up outside, through the holes that a muggle would recognise as a window without glass. The wind swirled around him and became thicker, almost like a mist. The sound that it made was eerie, but it calmed him more than it ever had before. It was as if it was whispering to him, trying to tell him something.

As he pondered whether he was insane or not, he continued to walk to the Slytherin common room in a light daze.

* * *

"Wait, so you've been up all night worrying about Hermione being missing and nobody bothered to tell me?" Ron tried to make sense of everything.

"Mate, telling you wasn't a priority, we're trying to help Hermione," Harry explained, gesturing to the seat in front of Dumbledore's desk. Ron took it almost reluctantly, still slightly miffed that he hadn't been told about anything.

"I thought she was seeing Malfoy? I thought we were giving her the silent treatment because of this?"

"Ron!" Harry scalded. "I don't care who she's dating, she's my best friend, we've got to find her."

* * *

Aerilyn entered the Slytherin common room cautiously but tried to look, over all, like she belonged there. She placed on a smirk of her own and tilted her chin up, walking confidently up the stairs to the boys dorms.

Someone wolf whistled and raised his eyebrows at her, making her jump. She curled up her lip distastefully at him and shook her head, carrying on up the stairs.

"Ouch, she bites," The friend of the wolf whistler chuckled, making her frown. Once they saw her ignoring them, they shrugged and walked away, filing her under the enormous list of other girls that they couldn't get.

Aerilyn sneaked into Lucas's bedroom, looking under the bed and behind the door, even though she knew he wouldn't be able to step foot back into Hogwarts. Slowly, keeping herself aware of the door, Aerilyn began searching through his drawers, notes, practically anything she could find.

* * *

Hermione returned to the library with Draco and they both were stood on their tiptoes, looking for books on spells that could restrict touching.

"Can you remember any little bit of it?" Hermione asked, hoping he could at least remember one word.

Draco shook his head. "No, he said it so quietly. The parts that I did get sounded… I don't know," He breathed. "A different language,"

"You mentioned it sounded like Latin and began with an R. That's something at least. Did it maybe sound French? I've heard that Latin and French can sound similar sometimes,"

"Yeah but that's like saying Spanish and French sound alike sometimes too. Heck, some words are translated the same in Spanish and French. Like… Love… Except in French it has an extra letter…"

"French," Hermione's eyes brightened. "That's it! You're part French, aren't you?"

Draco frowned. "Kind of… but it's dated back for years. The only French my generation has is our name and probably some blood but… oh… my name? French? So the curse was in French?"

"What does Malfoy mean in French?"

"Bad faith, but I don't see how that links to anything," Draco said confusedly.

Hermione bit her lip. "Me neither…"

Draco's eyes trailed down to his forearm and he shakily said, "Hermione…"

"Yes?" Her eyes flicked up to his and he caught her attention with his own grey ones, leading her down to his arm, where her hand had firmly grabbed his wrist.

They both looked up at the same time and Draco said in a dangerously dark voice, "Let go…"

"But what if-"

"Just do it," Draco said.

Slowly and with her breath caught in her throat, Hermione peeled each finger off of him, one by one. When nothing happened to either of them, Draco let one of his fingers brush against hers.

Hermione looked up, amazed. "He was lying,"

Draco grimaced. "Yeah, but exactly what about?"

* * *

Knocking on the oak door, Blaise swallowed thickly. When she answered, he stuttered. He'd forgotten how beautiful she was.

"Pansy," He breathed.

In mere seconds, she threw herself at him, putting her head on his shoulder and throwing her arms around him. He returned the hug warmly and softly rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry," He whispered. Pansy pulled back with tears in her eyes. She slapped him on the chest.

"You didn't even get in touch!" She sniffled.

Blaise was too emotional to argue.

"I'm sorry," He repeated, as he grabbed her face in his hands and brushed his lips over hers.

* * *

"Headmaster, if you don't mind I'd like permission to search the Malfoy's bedrooms,"

"By all means, Severus." Dumbledore replied. Once Snape had closed the door, he turned to Ron and Harry.

"Now, what were you saying Ron?"

Ron looked at Harry, almost for permission, before licking his lips and taking a deep breath.

"I don't know if there's even some sort of link here but… Astoria Greengrass has been missing for about three days now. She was last seen with Lucas but she didn't look… in danger. In fact, they looked quite close. Also, I know it's my own sister but even she's acting weird. I think she knows something that we don't,"

"Shall I go and get her?" Harry directed to Dumbledore, poised to get up.

Dumbledore nodded silently and then clasped his fingers on his desk, leaning towards Ron.

"Put yourself in this position for me a moment, Mr Weasley…"

* * *

Snape knocked the portrait to alert any students inside of his presence before he actually said the password and got through. He knew what pupils got up to these days and the last thing he wanted was to catch them in the act of more… risqué activities.

Luckily enough today was his day and there were no teenagers engaged in raunchy business on the Slytherin sofa, so he made his way upstairs, nodding to the students that greeted him.

Outside Lucas Malfoy's room, he heard fidgeting inside and frowned, hiding behind a small part of the wall. He growled lightly and got his wand out. If Lucas was in there, this time he wouldn't be let go.

But that's not what he saw.

That's not who he saw at all.

* * *

"Why would he tell us we couldn't touch each other? And if that isn't the truth then what does the spell do to you?" Hermione asked, her voice becoming quite shrill with worry and no sleep.

"I don't know," Draco said desperately. "Do you think I'd be sitting here if I know?"

Hermione drew back, surprised at his angsty attitude.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Sorry I'm just… There are so many loose ends; I just don't know what to believe anymore. I don't know if these potions and spells even exist. I just-" Draco exploded desperately. "I just don't know what we're fucking looking for!"

"I know… I'm annoyed too, but we can't turn on each other. Let's go back to the Malfoy in France link. Was your name said in the ritual-like-thing at all?"

Draco shook his head. "No… It was something… some of it was in English. The only part I remember being in English was 'preparo subject' that was it… I know that preparo in Spanish means prepare but… What the hell? Prepare me? Like for dinner, what is he going to eat me?" Draco said as if it was ridiculous.

"He is an animagus…" Hermione whispered in realisation. "And he _did_ want to eat me alive…He ate your sister alive,"

"No," Draco corrected. "He ate Robina alive. Who just so happens to be Aerilyn… Fuck this is so confusing. I think he meant to do this. I bet the punch line is that he's gay or something,"

"Draco!" Hermione scalded. "Being gay is not an insult, so don't use it as one. Plus, he can't be interested in men, he went out with Robina and tried to kiss me and…"

"Don't remind me," Draco scoffed, then he pulled his shoulders back and composed himself.

"Okay, let's write everything down, maybe with the words in front of us we'll be able to make a clear connection,"

* * *

"A-" Snape stuttered.

"Snape," Aerilyn's eyes went wide, her hand seemed to hit an invisible wall as she froze, going through Lucas's drawers.

Snape regained his composure rather quickly and quirked an eyebrow. "It seems we have the same plan in mind, I'll start on this side of the room," He said understandingly, before he floated to Lucas's dresser and began searching for clues. Aerilyn grinned despite all of the havoc going on around her. Her uncle Sev was the best.

* * *

"Wait… Go back, go back, go back," Pansy said, waving her hand. "Lucas wants to kill you? And Snape said it has to be a female that hosts the potion? Oh man, oh man, oh man," Pansy panicked, throwing herself off of the sofa and towards the other side of the room. Blaise frowned and quickly moved up beside her.

"What're you looking for?" He asked.

"It's Astoria, she gave me a letter the other day explaining that she needed to help Lucas with something or… I don't know! But I can't find it,"

"Hold up, Astoria might be hosting the potion?"

"Yes!" Pansy's eyes went wide. Blaise mirrored her expression and ran out of the room. Pansy looked exasperated and didn't know whether to follow him or keep looking for the letter she'd received from the tall blonde girl. She decided on the latter. Following Blaise would mean she might have to come back for it later. It was best to get everything out of the way.

While she was at it, she threw some clothes and necessities into a large bag and stuffed it under her bed. If Blaise was going to run away again, she'd be prepared.

* * *

"Blaise! Did you find out any information from Snape?"

"Yes, and he told me that either the possessions Lucas stole from us had to have a soul inside them or it had to be a woman that hosted it. Astoria tried to kill me in the forest and Pansy received a letter from Astoria not long ago saying that she had to help Lucas." Blaise blurted out in the one breath. Hermione's jaw dropped.

"Astoria could be hosting it?"

"WAIT, WHAT?" Draco shouted, getting up out of his seat. "No," He shook his head as if refusing to believe something.

"What is it?" Blaise and Hermione both asked at the same time.

"My fucking ribbon has Aerilyn's soul inside it, that's how I can reach her," His eyes looked as if they'd pop out of his head and Hermione had to hold his bicep to calm him and keep him from running out of the library.

"But my ring… It doesn't have a soul inside it… does it?" Blaise asked confusedly.

This seemed to calm Draco a little and the maniac expression from his face was gone. He breathed heavily and looked around helplessly.

"He's playing games with us. We have no idea what's going on," He said.

"What about your dad?" Draco asked, looking back up at Blaise.

"What about him?" Blaise asked confusedly.

"You said the ring was his… so it could have a soul inside it?"

"Well… I guess… but I feel like he'd tell me if his bleeding ring had a soul in it,"

"We have to go to Snape. Hopefully he'll need some sort of ingredient in Snape's room and try to get in," Draco said. Hermione scooped up the books and parchment on the library table and juggled it all in her hands, passing a few books over to Blaise when he offered to help her. Draco was too busy flying out of the door to even hold the door open for them. They struggled to catch up with him, but weren't complaining. They wanted closure almost as much as him.

* * *

"Hey, Sev," Aerilyn said, her voice laced with confusion. Snape voiced that he was listening, but didn't turn around.

"What does this mean? I think it's in a foreign language," She held the paper out to Snape, who's eyebrow quirked before his interest was piqued and he took the note from her, his breath catching in his throat more with every word that he read.

* * *

A weeping sound made Draco's ear twitch and he backed up a few steps to look around the corner. A small person lay huddled on the floor, visibly trembling. They looked and sounded female and sounded like they were trying to call for help. Draco didn't know if he should help someone in need or go to Snape's. Eventually, his heart was too big to leave someone helpless and he jogged up to the figure.

"Astoria?" He frowned, putting his hand underneath her head so that she didn't crack her skull on the concrete floor. Blaise and Hermione came up short and Hermione gasped, dropped her books and then fell to the floor next to Draco, grabbing Astoria's hand so that so could check for a pulse.

"Draco," Astoria breathed. "You have to leave-" She erupted into a fit of coughing.

"He has everything he needs, you have to leave and stop him," She wheezed.

"What? He has everything he needs for what?" Draco asked urgently. Astoria looked at Blaise and tears dripped down her face.

"I'm so sorry, he promised me money that my family needs and he… he used me. I didn't get the money,"

"Astoria, Asoria, listen," Draco pleaded, trying to push her hair off of her face. "We can sort out your money situation, my mother would be more than happy to help you but I need to know what Lucas is planning,"

"He has her-" More coughing.

"He has her what?" Draco asked, turning his head so that the closest body part of his to her was his ear.

"Earrings?" Draco asked the air confusedly. He turned to Hermione when her head whipped up at the word.

"Do you have any earrings that are of importance to you?"

Hermione's eyes went wide. "Oh my god, no, I hid them, I hid them from him on purpose,"

"Need I ask if they have some sort of soul trapped inside them?" Draco asked angrily.

"Yes- mine."

* * *

"What does it mean?" Aerilyn pressed. Severus headed angrily to Dumbledore's office, Aerilyn skipping at his side to keep up with him and swallowed.

"I don't quite know, for sure, yet,"

* * *

"YOURS?" Draco exploded. "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOUR SOUL NOT BE IN YOUR BODY?!"

"Mate," Blaise quietly reminded Draco. He put a hand on his shoulder.

Hermione looked around. "I…"

"You what?" Draco pressed.

"I DIED! OKAY? I died as an infant and I was wearing those earrings when it happened. My mother had my ears pierced when I was a year old and then I died for fifteen minutes because of a muggle disease, but they revived me. I was fine until I learned in fourth year that my soul was immediately drawn to the earrings because they're diamond- something about having a connection to the earth."

Draco looked Hermione up and down, trying to silently apologise for blowing up at her.

Blaise stayed the rational one as always. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Hermione,"

"So... what? Everyone has some sort of object that contains your soul but I don't?" Draco asked. He was becoming extremely irritated, and it wasn't getting them anywhere.

"It's not that." A small voice from below interrupted them. Astoria looked to be getting better slowly. Her breathing had calmed down and it sounded like her panic attack was fading.

"What?"

Astoria's bottom lip wobbled. "If he inserts the objects into the potion your souls and lives will be gone. Blaise, Hermione, Aerilyn… the only thing is, you're still the only one who has your soul. He thinks the traumatisation of losing everyone close to you will make you kill yourself. He doesn't want to kill you; he wants you to do it yourself,"

"How can someone be so twisted?" Draco swore under his breath to himself. He got up and walked away from the bunch. They didn't know if they should follow.

Astoria turned to Hermione, helpless and broken. "I'm sorry," She cried new, fresh tears. Hermione shook her head and indicated for Blaise to hold the rest of the books. Slowly, she manipulated Astoria's almost limp body and held her up vertically, preparing to take her to the medical wing.

* * *

In seconds, Severus's mood had gone from determined to worried sick. Aerilyn collapsed beside him. One minute, her mood had been jumpy and almost excited at the drama, but the next she just… fell. He had held his hand out to her for a second before he saw that she was face down, and not moving. Despite him wanting to admit so, his eyes welled up with tears and he continuously muttered,

"Not again, not again,"

* * *

"I can walk by myself I think now," Astoria smiled quite shyly. Without all of her makeup and her bitch-like attitude, she looked almost innocent and nice. Hermione smiled politely and let her small waist go, telling her the story.

"So we have to head to Snape. He might know where Lucas is performing the potion and then-"

Astoria yelped and jumped back a step as in the exact same moment, as if clockwork had intended, Hermione and Blaise both dizzily swayed and then completely fainted on the floor. She looked confusedly for a second before she pieced all of the things she'd just been told together and gasped. She grabbed Hermione's wand and knew that the right thing to do was inform Draco of what had just happened. She quietly and carefully locked them in a closet so that nobody would come across them in the corridor and then ran in the same direction that Draco had.

After a few seconds of simply limping, she growled at her own stupidity and in a second, hated society for making her think that she had to wear heels every single second of every day. She bent over; taking off both of her heels and then ran in her bare feet up the corridor.

* * *

Draco looked behind him as darkness seemed to loom in through the windows of the corridor he was walking up. He frowned, taking slower steps and then jumped as a torch above him shuddered. He frowned deeper at it before it simply lay still and the fire in it had gone out as if someone had threw water over it.

The moon outside was gone and the wind picked up. He had an extremely bad feeling.

Coldness washed over his spine as if someone had dropped ice down his back and his eyes grew wide as he tried to focus on the darkness in front of him. For the first time in his life, he felt genuine terror.

Fingering his wand in his pocket, his breathing began to become shaky and erratic.

Draco felt eerily alone.

Not just in the corridor, but in life.

* * *

**I hope you aren't too confused by this chapter! I tried to keep it as simple as possible but I can give anyone a quick overview if you like, just ask me in a review! **

**I also apologise for Draco's attitude in this... I feel like his temper is really coming out to play. You have to give him some credit though- he doesn't know what to believe at all! Wouldn't you be frustrated too?**

**Let me know what you thought of this chapter and please forgive me for having a small absence! I've already started writing the next chapter, so you shouldn't have to wait. It may even be up today! **

**Thank you guys so much, once again.**

**- FallenForTheDraco**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

This is the next chapter! I uploaded it as soon as I possibly could because I know that the end of chapter 15 was a really big cliffhanger. This chapter ties up some more loose ends and warning: there's a character death.

In fact... technically, there are 2 character deaths, but you'll see what I mean.

Thanks to **Genia** who reviewed the last chapter! I don't think most of you are awake yet, and this chapter was uploaded pretty quick, so this A/N will be small since I have nothing to reply to!

Also, one last little thing... I know that this story sounds as if it's ending soon... but it kind of isn't. I have a few ideas floating around my head and I have no idea whether I want to make a sequel or not.

After a few more chapters, tell me if you'd like a sequel. But don't tell me right now! We haven't gotten to the end yet!

Enjoy!

* * *

"Draco!" Astoria cried, throwing herself into him. He staggered back and kept his hands on her arms until she was upright. He looked into her eyes, which were red and filled with tears, and his own eyes went wide. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Hermione and Blaise, they just… they just… I think they're, oh god… I don't know what happened, they just… one minute… and then… on the floor,"

"Astoria, Astoria!" Draco shouted, shaking her. She gasped as if being torn out of a dream and her lips trembled.

"Explain to me clearly what happened," Draco ordered, but there was a voice in the back of his mind that told him _he didn't want to know._

* * *

"Sir," Snape burst in through Dumbledore's door, holding a limp girl in his arms. He didn't try to supress the tears running down his face. Dumbledore stood up in complete horror and didn't try to mask his fear either. Harry and Ron stood, immobilized, with their eyes wide. They didn't know what shocked them more. The fact that this situation was so bad _Snape_ was crying, or the fact that he held, what looked like, a dead body in his arms.

* * *

"Hermione, Hermione!" Draco shouted, slapping Hermione's cheek lightly. His bottom lip wobbled and tears threatened to spill over his alabaster cheeks, but he tried to remain calm. He moved over to Blaise, his heart tightening at the look of him being so… lifeless.

"Wake up," Draco whimpered. One more look at both their lifeless bodies caused him to hunch over and sob, his back racking. Astoria set a manicured hand on his back, tears in her own eyes. She didn't know how to comfort him, so she simply rubbed his back. It was the second time she'd seen him cry since she'd known him.

It was too bad it was because of the same reason.

* * *

"Where are we?" Hermione frowned, looking at Blaise. Both of them were floating in mid-air on what seemed to be a cliff. A large cauldron was sitting in front of them, boiling on a wooden square. A boy stepped out from behind it in all black. His hood was up, so you could only see his evil grin.

"Say goodbye," He smirked. "Your bodies are gone, now I just need your souls to fuck off,"

"Lucas," Hermione growled. Blaise looked too shocked to say anything.

"In the flesh," He said, bringing a hand up from behind him to bring down his hood. His dirty blonde hair contrasted amazingly with his whole outfit, making the two main colours on him black and white. The fact that there was no colour on him made him seem even eviler.

"You're seriously gonna do this to him? You're gonna let him lose everything again?" Blaise raged. Hermione was shocked. Blaise was always the calm, realistic and rational one, but this time he growled so much that saliva actually dripped from the corner of his mouth. He closely resembled a wolf for a moment, but Hermione dispelled that image from her head, not wanting to associate Blaise with such horrible things.

"Don't look at me," Lucas chuckled. He turned to Hermione. "It's all her fault,"

"My fault?" Hermione half sobbed, half laughed.

"Yes," Lucas grinned. "All you had to do was choose me over him," He smirked. Hermione felt like she was looking at Draco, only the evil side of him and couldn't look at him any longer because of the Draco element. She tried to separate them both in her head. _Draco is __nothing like Lucas. Draco is nothing like Lucas. Draco is nothing like Lucas…_

"_Oh, but Draco's just like me," _Someone echoed in her head. Her head whipped to Lucas's and she bore her teeth unintentionally.

"How did you do that?" She asked. Blaise looked on, breathing heavily, confused.

"_Oh, want to be joined in the fun, Blaise? Yes, yes, soak it up. I can read your minds… speak to your minds… I can even put very realistic pictures in there, you know." _

"What?!" Hermione shouted. "You can make us see things that aren't really there?"

Lucas clapped deliberately slow and continued to walk in front of them as though he was a comedian on a stage. "Well done, finally! We're getting closer."

"That's why everyone loved you… you made everyone see what you wanted to… you made them think Draco was normal when really he was wasting away," Hermione frowned. Lucas grinned and chuckled, clapping his hands together.

"That was pretty quick, Hermione, good job," He sounded genuinely happy.

"That's invasion of privacy," Hermione warned. Lucas forced his eyes to pop open and curled his lip up in mock fear.

"Oooh… you going to punish me?"

Hermione frowned, looking at Blaise for some help. Her mind was too muddled up to ask questions. Blaise took the hint easily and turned to Lucas.

"So what else have you done? Might as well own up now, give us a good show before we're gone," Blaise said in a disgusted tone.

Lucas laughed. "That's a pretty good idea, actually! Okay, okay," Lucas got ready as if he was going to tell a joke. "You guys are in like… a dimension right now, how cool is that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is where Aerilyn lives." He smiled. "You know that little brat of a sister?"

"Wait, where is she? She should've been here when we are," Blaise frowned.

"Well done, again! She's uh… got a prior engagement," He chuckled darkly.

Trying something out, Hermione looked at Blaise intensely before speaking in her mind.

"_If Aerilyn visited Draco from this place, then can't we?" _

Blaise's head whipped around to hers and, not wanting to give away that they were conversing, he nodded once. A slow nod, as if he was just inspecting her form. That was all Hermione needed.

"_It's no use,"_ A tiny voice spoke in her head. Hermione was tempted to look around, but didn't. She kept her gaze on Lucas, who was looking inside his cauldron.

"_Aerilyn?" _She asked her mind.

"_You won't be able to reach Draco. I tried the moment I was dragged back here and I couldn't even get to him. It's like he's closed off from our world now." _

"_Because your ribbon is gone now," _Hermione said sadly.

"_Yeah… It's too bad you guys don't have something that holds you to earth, otherwise we could probably do it, but I think this is it. I didn't even get to say goodbye…" _There were sobbing and whimpering sounds in Hermione's head, and she knew that Aerilyn was crying.

"_Just stay strong, okay? We'll get out of this predicament." _

"_No you won't," _Came a dark and angry voice. Hermione came out of her daze just in time to see a fist being thrown at her face. She groaned at the contact but when she lifted a hand up to her nose, there was no blood. Lucas sneered in front of her, and it reminded her of Draco in their fifth year.

"Too bad here you can't feel pain,"

Funnily enough, when Hermione thought about it, she _couldn't_ feel pain.

"The fuck?" Lucas spat. Hermione looked to where he was looking and her eyes widened as Blaise seemed to dissipate into the air. One moment he was there, the next, he was gone.

"It's not supposed to happen like that," Lucas frowned, going around behind the cauldron to check at books. An unbelievable tone came into her head,

"_I can't believe it! Blaise… he…. He's done it!"_

* * *

"Draco, it'll be okay, we can get help, and we can go to Dumbledore," Astoria tried desperately to comfort her childhood friend, but she'd already had this conversation with him the first time a death had happened and she knew how it went.

"It's too late now," Draco said, his voice thick. He sniffled and wiped his nose on the other side of his wrist.

"It's never too late," Astoria said quietly.

"DRACO! _DRACO!_" A voice came.

"Do you hear that?" Draco asked, just as Astoria's head popped up at the sound. It was clear that she had heard it.

"It's Blaise. We're trapped between worlds. Like where Aerilyn has been this whole time. He said we'd only last twenty minutes. Tell Dumbledore, I don't know how long I can keep thi…"

Hope filled Draco's grey eyes and his eyes widened. He turned to Astoria and said desperately,

"Kill me."

* * *

"What the hell just happened to you?" Lucas sounded pissed off. Blaise feigned innocence.

"I have no idea…" He said, looking a little pale. Seeing the expression on his face made Hermione worry that maybe he hadn't gotten through to Draco and they really would die.

Lucas looked as if he was beginning to get seriously angry. He wasn't playing games anymore. "I fucking…I can't believe this, even when I force people to love me, they just don't love me," He laughed, but there was no humour.

"Maybe if you were a nice person people would love you without you having to try," Hermione said bitterly. She was in no mood to reason. She wanted him to know how much she hated him before she died.

Lucas sneered at her. "I tried being myself, it didn't fucking work!"

"Yes it did," Blaise tutted, showing that he thought Lucas was ridiculous. "I've been friends with Draco since I was in my mother's womb and he loved you. He fucking loved you, you prat. You were his big brother!"

"UGH, HE'S A SWINE," Lucas knocked the cauldron over with one arm to create some sort of mess. It looked like he just wanted to destroy something.

"He never loved me," Lucas said.

"Is this what this is all about? Love?" Hermione asked.

Lucas crouched onto the grass and held his head in his hands as if he had a major headache coming on. He bounced on his heels a little, but then brought himself back to stand up and breathed in sharply.

"Yeah, it's all for love. Unrequited love."

* * *

"WHAT? I'm not going to _kill _you!" Astoria fumed. Draco's eyes widened.

"You don't understand! I have to die to be able to travel back and forth between those worlds. I won't be completely dying, you have to revive me. Strange me and then give me CPR or something, but I _have_ to die!"

Astoria shook her head. She didn't look like she understood, but she nodded. She trusted him.

"If you say so,"

"I do, just. I'm not scared; I'm not scared of the pain, just do it!" Draco urged.

With a heavy heart, Astoria clasped her hands around Draco's neck until his face went purple with the lack of oxygen.

* * *

"Unrequited love? You have to be kiddin' me," Blaise said.

"I was in love with this girl called Robina Malfoy… Thought she loved me too until she told me that she loved me 'like a brother'," Lucas barked a laugh, but he choked on a sob.

"So when she died, sorry, when I killed her, I came back as her brother, to show her exactly what she was missing,"

"What do you know?! Our parents loved them more than me too! Then you loved him more than me!" Lucas jabbed a finger in Hermione's direction.

Finally, Lucas broke down and cried in front of them. "Why does nobody love me?"

To say Blaise felt sympathetic for Lucas was an understatement. His grandparents didn't love him, or show him any affection, so he knew how it felt.

"Maybe because you try killing everyone when you fail?" A confident voice came from behind Lucas. Draco stepped out from behind the tipped over cauldron and faced his brother. It was like he was looking in a mirror that darkened your hair colour.

The moment Lucas saw Draco, he got angry.

"How'd you get here? How'd you know we were here? It was you, wasn't it?" Lucas screamed at Blaise, ready to lunge for him. Draco pushed him away from Blaise so that he stumbled over the cauldron and fell on his back. He walked up to him, his shadow looming over him until it covered his face.

"I came here because I died to protect my friends. Maybe if you showed a little compassion like that, someone would love you back,"

Lucas openly cried in front of his brother. In the muggle world, he could have closely resembled a patient from a mental unit, Hermione thought sadly.

"How do I reverse this stupid potion?" Draco asked, giving the cauldron a kick with his boot. Lucas got up, his tears magically gone. He looked angry again.

"We don't, I told you I wasn't going to see this through until you killed yourself. You're losing everything, so just do it already," Vicious Lucas was back.

"I'm not going to kill myself." Draco said. "Nobody will die here tonight,"

Lucas scoffed. "That's not true, you will."

"I'm _not_ leaving, I'll be revived in twenty minutes now tell me how to reverse this potion," Draco said. Lucas stared at his brother for a moment before lunging at him, throwing them both to the floor. Hermione and Blaise looked on helplessly. They couldn't seem to physically move from their position in the air.

Lucas and Draco thrashed around a bit before Lucas got the upper hand and sat on Draco's chest. Out of nowhere, he produced a dagger and held it at his brother's throat. Draco's hands protectively covered his own throat and he stared mercifully up at Lucas. They both breathed heavily.

"Looks like I'll just have to kill you then," Lucas growled, sweat dripping from his forehead. Fog seemed to gain weight and dropped lower, making the location seem eerie and haunted.

"I'm not dying at the hands of you," Draco choked, before he brought his knee up and painfully smashed it into Lucas's back. Lucas arched his back at the pain and Draco took this opportunity to turn onto his stomach. He crawled out from underneath Lucas and stood up, his hands out in front of him. He frowned.

Lucas was nowhere to be seen! What the hell? Draco tried to calm his breathing and when Lucas didn't show up after a whole minute, he inched towards Hermione and Blaise, even if it was just to say goodbye.

"Are you gu- AH!" Draco shouted in surprise. He fell between the small space between Hermione and Blaise, right at the edge of the cliff. He felt the back of his head actually hang off the cliff and swore under his breath, trying to get up, but he was too late. Lucas grabbed his throat and pushed his head up further, so that if Draco turned his head, he could see the whole way down. His brave face stayed in place but he was terrified inside.

"Draco, just throw him over!" Blaise barked. "It's you or him, do it now!"

Draco glanced at Hermione enough to feel his heart swell up with both hope and dread at the same time. Her beautiful face, so transparent and scared, still made him warm inside despite the circumstances. He held her gaze for a few moments, trying to talk to her with his eyes, until his brother grabbed his attention again.

"Say goodbye," Lucas breathed.

With tears in Draco's eyes, his mouth trembled with anger.

"No," He said angrily, before he wedged his knee in between Lucas's legs and lifted him into the air. Due to simple gravity, Lucas stumbled over Draco's body, kicking him in the face, before he was thrown over the edge.

At the last moment, Draco reached over and grabbed the back of Lucas's jacket. Because of the weight, Draco started to slide off the cliff with his brother and the only thing he heard was Hermione's voice.

"NO!" She said, panicked. Draco seemed to compose himself and stopped slipping.

"Give me your hand," Draco growled to Lucas. Lucas looked up at his brother from the side with tears in his eyes.

"No, I'm not going to Azkaban again,"

"Give me it, Lucas, I won't let you die!" Draco shouted.

"Why not?" Lucas weeped. Draco angrily breathed through his nose.

"Because _I_ love you,"

Lucas's breath caught in his throat and he turned, his hand poised to grab Draco's. There was a moment where everyone's heart stopped, but they managed, and Draco was now the only thing holding Lucas up. Draco tried to get both arms over the cliff to haul Lucas back up, but was afraid he'd be taken over with him, so he attempted to inch back on the grass ever so slowly, bringing Lucas with him.

The weight was too much though. Lucas was built like Draco and Draco knew he had a lot of muscle, which weighed way more than fat. He swallowed as he realised that he might not be able to save his brother.

Lucas seemed to be thinking the same. "Just let me go, brother."

"No," Draco said, rejecting the idea immediately.

Lucas attempted a smile. "You were always my favourite, no matter what anyone says," Lucas said.

Just as Draco was about to respond, Lucas brought up his other hand and painfully pushed Draco's wrist bone with his thumb, making Draco immediately leg go and yell in pain.

"No!" Draco shouted, looking down at his brothers falling form. He closed his eyes over and his heart dropped when he realised that he'd failed him.

"Draco," Hermione said, panicking. She was beginning to fade, as Blaise had done and looked around herself desperately.

Blaise started to fade as well. He adopted the same expression as Hermione and then looked to Draco, tears in his eyes.

"I think this is it, mate,"

Draco couldn't look. He couldn't watch people leave his life again. He briefly heard Hermione mutter something, but then he was alone.

Alone.

Alone…

* * *

Hermione gasped as she woke up and winced as her neck was in a cramped position. A small, hunched over figure stood over a body just outside the door and was muttering 'oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,"

"Astoria?" Hermione called out rather sleepily.

Astoria whipped around, Black marks all over her face due to mascara and eye liner and breathed a sigh of relief. Despite them never being close, she enveloped Hermione in her arms and squeezed her tight.

"I've never been so happy to see you," Astoria smiled sadly, her tears turning into ones of joy.

"Why's he on the floor? Did you revive him?" Hermione asked quickly. Despite her body absolutely _aching_ she crawled past Astoria to Draco's body just as Blaise began to stir. She checked for a pulse and then pressed her lips to Draco's, pushing all of her own oxygen into his lungs. After it not working for three times, she overlapped her hands on his chest and pushed down like she saw in films and tv shows, praying that it would work.

"Come on," She muttered, putting her mouth to his again.

After a few minutes, she checked for a pulse. It wasn't strong, but it had crept up from nothing to weak.

"Draco, please wake up," Hermione cried. She pushed down on his chest and then gave him CPR once more.

After a gasp, he opened his eyes and his head lolled to the side. Hermione desperately wanted to kiss him, but knew that he needed to get used to breathing again first. Instead, she kissed his forehead, lying down onto the ground beside him. She cuddled into his chest and cried. Astoria held Blaise as they sat around Draco's now live body.

It was silent.

* * *

**So... that was rather dramatic. Some people might be confused. Lucas's... attitude will be explained in the next chapter. I know he had a few mood swings in this and that'll be covered! **

**I also apologise for the lack of Dramione interaction... there's a lot more in the next chapter too.**

**Also! In case some of you ask about Aerilyn, I have a special surprise for you guys with her... I think you might like it. I think it's sorta sweet. Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter! Sorry if I'm not my usual talkative self... It's 03:09am in the UK and I am so tired! **

**- FallenForTheDraco**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

So, I thought about the ideas that were roaming around my head and I decided just to leave them for this story. This story has enough drama in it without me doing something to it, so sadly, it'll be ending soon!

But don't worry; I may or may not plan a sequel. Would you guys like to see a sequel or not? Let me know in a review!

**Thank you to: **Genia, XDramioneLoverx, SadisticDemongyrl, SasoriHime05, CGinny, ThatMalfoyGirl, GirForPrez and mimi for reviewing.

Also thanks to everyone who favourited and followed the story!

* * *

Straight after they'd found Draco, they took him to the hospital wing. Draco's throat was bruised purple and they figured they couldn't hide it from the teachers, so it was better to tell them everything that had happened. Hermione had heard a rumour that the teachers were looking for them all anyways, but didn't tell anyone else as she didn't want them to worry.

When they got to the hospital wing, everyone she needed to see was surprisingly already there; huddled around a body on the bed. Some people were silent and every so often, someone would say 'I just… didn't expect it.'

Hermione thought the comment was weird but didn't want to speak loudly or interrupt them in case one of her classmates had died or something. She settled for putting Draco on the side of the bed and getting him some water.

But they couldn't stay quiet for long, and eventually, people began to notice them. Ginny done a double-take when she seen them and got up quickly, running to hug Hermione. She said nothing, but there was nothing to be said anyways.

After hugging everyone, Dumbledore spoke.

"I trust you all were safe and well," He spoke with a hint of happiness in his voice that they could only recognise as relief and proudness.

"Um… Yes, but Draco is a bit injured so I brought him here. Astoria took Blaise up to the common rooms," Hermione spoke, but her voice was small and meek.

"And Lucas?" Dumbledore pried, lifting his eyebrows. Hermione wished that he'd directed the question to Draco, but thought of an awkward way to explain anyways.

"He… isn't here anymore. He won't bother us again," Hermione said, walking back to Draco's bedside with some ice and bandages. It was then that she realised why everyone was so silent. It was because they'd never actually seen her with Draco since Hermione had gotten Ginny to tell them about their relationship.

She burned under their stares, but ignored them. After a few minutes of constantly being watched and scrutinized, Harry came over and took the ice from her hands. He nodded his head towards the door and Draco looked on curiously.

"You go get some sleep, I'll deal with this," He said. When she didn't move, he looked at her.

"You…" She stuttered. Harry smiled lightly.

"I'm not happy about it, but I'll find time… to get over it. Now go and get some rest," He said. She smiled at him before awkwardly touching Draco's fingertips to say goodbye. She didn't think she should kiss, or hug him in public just yet.

"So… how are you?" Harry awkwardly said to Draco. Draco stared blankly into his face before he realised that this was a two-way thing. Both Harry and he would have to try to get on for Hermione's sake. He coughed and tried to let the ice soothe his throat.

"As good as someone can be who's just woken up from the dead," Draco shrugged, trying to push himself up on the bed slightly. Harry nodded and magically cooled some bandages, putting them around his neck. Then, he secured more bandages around the cooling ones, so that it would be secure.

Draco fell asleep during the process.

* * *

Back up in Hermione's room, she sat trying to ponder why the potion hadn't worked. Had it been because he'd knocked over the cauldron or had he miscalculated an ingredient? It was all so very confusing, and she didn't understand it at all. She was also feeling very weird after watching when he died, and the parts before.

She'd come to the conclusion that Lucas did love his brother, and Draco loved him back, but there was some sort of barrier between the two. Lucas was clearly troubled, but it began before his life as Lucas. Something happened to him when he was with Robina, she just didn't know what.

So far she'd come up with: Azkaban making him insane/ some sort of traumatic accident making him unstable/ Guilt of killing his sister making him go mad…

Either way, she felt like Lucas had been a good guy at one point. She just wished that nobody had to die. Lucas, though, would obviously see things the other way. After what he'd done, there was a cell with his name on it in Azkaban, and if Hermione was honest, she'd rather die than go to Azkaban too.

She put her diary down after writing everything that she could remember in it. She didn't want to forget this day, although everyone else probably did. She liked to write things down while they're still fresh in her mind, so that when she reads over it, she can truly and honestly say that she had many wild adventures as a teenager and child.

She snuggled into her covers and sighed, finally relaxing after days of being on edge. She was asleep within minutes.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't need to be checked up on?" Astoria asked for the millionth time. Her arm was underneath Blaise's as he leaned on her to walk. He was still feeling a little shaky too.

"I'm fine, honestly," Blaise said. He looked down and then stopped.

"Oh, what's this?" He asked sarcastically. "Astoria without heels on?"

Astoria breathed a laugh and waved him off. "I think I'm going to stop wearing them," She announced proudly. Blaise's eyebrows rose and he was still smiling.

"You might wanna lay down on the makeup too, if you're going for a change," He offered his opinion. Astoria raised her own eyebrows and sighed.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to do that too. Besides, I look better without it, don't I?" She grinned at him.

"Of course you do, all girls do," He said. Astoria shuddered.

"No, no. That's a lie. You see that girl in fourth year? She could use a bit of concealer. And it wouldn't help just to brighten up your lip colour a few times a month either," She started to rant. Blaise threw his head back and laughed.

"Alright, alright, but seriously, I think it's good that you're making a change," He said.

"Ugh," Astoria whined. "I'm only going to be 5'5 again… I don't think I'm ready for this, maybe I should just gradually go down in heel size," She said, standing in front of the portrait.

Blaise pushed her inside. "At-at-ah, you said you'd stop wearing them altogether," He said. Astoria whined, making him laugh again.

* * *

Draco awoke a few hours later, his neck still bruised, but a little better. A few hours of sleep had done him wonders and he felt much better- not agitated at all. It still hurt him to swallow, but he figured it was better than a broken rib or something.

Hermione stared back at him when he woke up and he winced at the sunlight coming in through the window. Hermione tried to put her head in front of his so that she could shield him from the light and he rolled over to face her, slowly waking up.

"I thought you were sleeping," Draco yawned.

Hermione smiled a small smile. "I was… I woke up after about two hours, completely ready. I won't get back to sleep until tonight," She shrugged. Draco moaned lightly, putting his head back on the pillow. He wasn't ready to be awake yet.

"Don't fall asleep," Hermione laughed. Draco peeked up to look at her.

"Why not?"

"Because then I'll be lonely…" She said. Draco turned his head, his neck protesting wildly, behind him to see that they were in fact alone.

"I won't sleep then," He said. Hermione nodded.

"Do you want more ice? Or bandages?" Hermione asked, ready to get up out of her seat. Draco shook his head.

"No, I'll just let it settle." He said. Hermione nodded.

"So… should we talk about what happened?" Hermione asked, looking down at her lap, where her fingers tangled between each other curiously.

Draco nodded. "I found out that I had to die to get between worlds, so I had Astoria strangle me,"

"Yeah, I guessed that's what you had to do when you arrived in that… place," Hermione shuddered at the memory, and then she frowned. "What happened to Aerilyn?"

Hermione regretted asking the question when Draco looked down sadly. "She didn't have a soul to revive her, so, she finally moved on,"

He fiddled with the edge of his blanket to stop from staring at her. Hermione looked at Draco sadly and before she could even try to help it, she threw herself over his bed and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered. A lump formed in Draco's throat and he nodded, trying to find a way to say 'it's okay' but there was none. Instead he settled for leaning his head on her shoulder.

Hermione pulled back after a few minutes and Draco took in a deep breath, sighing audibly. He blinked the tears away and licked his lips.

"When I feel well enough we've to go up to Dumbledore's office, apparently they have something to tell us," Draco said. Hermione frowned lightly.

"What do they have to tell us?" She asked. Draco shrugged.

"No idea. I feel like going up now just because I'm curious," Draco admitted, half-smiling.

Hermione looked over his body, her hands on her knees. "Well… do you feel well enough?"

Draco frowned, not even thinking of that. "Yes, actually…"

"Then let's go,"

* * *

"Oh Draco," Someone threw themselves at him the moment he even got in the door. Draco eyed the white blonde hair mysteriously.

"Mum?" He asked, his voice muffled because of her shoulder. Narcissa pulled back, her arms on Draco's shoulder and kissed his forehead.

"I'm so glad you're okay,"

Lucius nodded to his son awkwardly, standing a little behind his mother. When Draco walked forward, Lucius patted him on the back and pulled out a chair for him to sit in front of Dumbledore's desk. Hermione stood beside him awkwardly, fearing that everyone in the room hated her.

"And you're okay too?" Narcissa asked her, gently touching her arm. Her eyes were still wide with worry. Hermione nodded slightly, startled at them even caring. Narcissa nodded, thinking of something to say, before Dumbledore walked in.

"I'm glad," She smiled. The least she could do was treat Hermione with respect since she'd saved her son.

"Draco," Dumbledore beamed. "Hermione," He nodded to her.

He shuffled to behind his desk and took a seat. "I hope you don't mind, but I have a few visitors,"

Hermione and Draco turned their heads to see that Snape, Harry, Ron and Blaise were standing behind them.

"Now, I trust you already know that Lucas is dead," Dumbledore said bluntly. Draco nodded.

"Lucas was… a troubled young man. The guilt of killing his sister at such an early age caused him to end the lives of many more in his lifetime. We trust he was… a little out of his mind," Dumbledore nodded.

Draco swallowed. "You mean he was… mentally ill?"

Dumbledore swayed his head a little, indicating that was a possible thing to call it. "Being in Azkaban gives even the strongest-minded people doubts. An adult going to Azkaban can come out insane, but to be there as a child, the effects are… destroying,"

"So you say that being in Azkaban made him go insane?" Hermione spoke up. Dumbledore nodded to her.

"Quite right, miss Granger. We know nothing of his real intention to be here, we can only assume it was to be close to Draco," Dumbledore said, looking at Draco.

"However, we later found out that Lucas has been digging up your sisters grave," At this, Draco's face turned angry and he scoffed. Dumbledore didn't look surprised at his reaction. "Our first assumption was that his intentions were evil, but that was not the case at all. You see, your sister's death sent Lucas into a downward spiral. He was troubled, not evil. He came back, I can only assume, to make things right again. I think he quickly realised that he wouldn't be here much longer and was weekly giving your sister blood transfusions."

"What?" Draco frowned. "Why would he do that?"

Dumbledore smiled lightly. "To give you back the only thing that you ever lost,"

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, turning to his parents. Lucius sighed.

"Before your brother went to Azkaban, he was hysterical. One thing I remember him saying was that he wished he could take her place. It's the guiltiest I've ever seen someone feel," Lucius explained. "He's always regretted it, he killed others so that her death wouldn't seem as… special to him,"

"So… he gave her blood transfusions? Why? What good would that do? She doesn't have a soul, her ribbon was destroyed,"

"That's what we thought-"

"Lucas knocked the potion over," Hermione said, her expression one of realisation. "That's why Blaise and I were able to come back, because our possessions were never truly destroyed," She said.

Draco was still confused. "So?" He asked.

Dumbledore smiled and got up. "I think my work is done here, but there is someone else who wishes to speak to you in the astronomy tower," Dumbledore grinned. Draco couldn't understand anything, his mind was still a mess, however he got up from his seat and made his way to the astronomy tower.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Ron said, walking towards Hermione. She smiled and opened her arms, returning his hug. Harry smiled behind them both.

"I can't believe everything that has happened in the last month," Hermione said, shaking her head.

Harry nodded. "It's almost as dramatic as Voldemort," He grinned. Hermione laughed.

"I guess we can't have a normal year in school," Ron grinned. "Something weird's always gotta happen,"

Harry and Hermione heartily agreed to this.

"I mean- Hermione and Malfoy? You can't get any weirder than that," Ron breathed a laugh. Hermione chuckled and slapped his chest.

* * *

"Hello?" Draco called out. Nobody answered him.

Sighing, he realised that he probably had to wait a few minutes and leaned on the railing, looking out over the grounds of Hogwarts.

So much had happened this year- he could barely believe it.

"Hey," A small voice called out. Draco turned around and his heart started beating wildly.

"You can still visit me?" He smiled. Aerilyn half-smiled.

"More than that," She said. Draco frowned.

"Then what? You can visit me forever?" He chuckled. Aerilyn rubbed her nose.

"You're really stupid sometimes," She said. Draco's smile dropped and he glared at his sister.

"Well, you have the same genes as me, so I guess you're stupid too," He smirked. Aerilyn raised a pale blonde eyebrow and mirrored his smirk.

She sighed and hopped up onto the railing that Draco was leaning on. The protective big brother side of him kept his eye on her balance so that she wouldn't fall, even though he knew she was already dead.

"Lucas gave me blood transfusions," She admitted. Draco nodded.

"I heard. What a dick," He shook his head, the wind making his hair fall out of place.

Aerilyn raised her eyebrows. "Do you know why?" She looked down.

Draco sighed, rolling his eyes. "I don't know. He thought you had special ghost powers and wanted them so he tried to get your blood into his body so he could have them," He shrugged. "I don't know, when did Lucas ever need a reason to do something?"

Aerilyn rolled her eyes. Her brother was seriously silly. "Actually, he gave his blood to me,"

Draco frowned, looking at her. "Why would he do that?"

Aerilyn's eyes went wide. "If a soul ever wants to return to a body," She started off, sounding extremely smart. "It can't be some decayed old thing that is completely cold. He warmed up my body with his own blood. Made my organs start working again, etc"

"So if you still have a soul, and your body was fixed…" Draco trailed off, beginning to understand everything. Aerilyn smiled rather sadly.

"Yep… He gave up his life so that I could have mine back," She said. Draco's jaw dropped.

"So yo-you're alive? Right now, you're here?"

Aerilyn nodded, smiling wildly. "Listen," She said, jumping off the railing. Her landing made a very distinct noise on the wood below her. When she was a ghost, it would've been like she weighed nothing. Draco breathed a laugh.

"You're here," He said, still not believing it. Aerilyn nodded. Draco stared into space for a few seconds.

"Well what are you waiting for?!" She burst suddenly, holding out her arms. "Hug me!"

* * *

"What's going to happen with Gryffindor and Slytherin now?" Ginny asked confusedly. They had all moved to the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione shrugged. "I have no idea," She said. She ran her fingers over her head in a stressed manner, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I guess Draco and I will just have to get over that we can't make both houses like each other,"

"Well, we won't cause any trouble," Harry said. He sat on the table, across from Hermione and touched her knee lightly. She smiled at him.

"Thanks, I just hope Slytherin's will think the same,"

* * *

"Can we at least still play pranks on them?" Crabbe whined. Draco widened his eyes.

"No!"

He huffed.

"So… what's the deal then, you expect us to befriend Gryffindor's?" Theodore Nott asked.

Draco rolled his eyes. "No, just don't… cause trouble," He said.

"But she's a-"

"Don't you dare say that word to him," Blaise warned, pointing a finger at Theo.

Theo rolled his eyes. "But she _is_, I mean, what will your parents say?" He asked, trying to act smart. Draco smirked.

"They already know,"

"But do th-"

"_And_ they approve," Draco answered before Theo could even ask. Theo sighed and slapped his knee.

"I'm still playing pranks on them," He shook his head, refusing to accept anything different. "I can't help it. We're Slytherin's, it's what we do,"

"Oh, shut up, you twat," Blaise finally burst. "_Slytherin's_ don't play pranks, prats like you do. Play pranks on them if you want; we're not joining in,"

"Guys!" Astoria rushed over. She hugged Draco quickly and then hugged Blaise. Draco looked confused.

"What the hell? You've like- shrunk," Draco commented.

Astoria smiled at Blaise as if they had just shared a personal joke. "I'm not wearing heels anymore,"

Draco looked down at her feet, surprised to find that she was indeed wearing flat shoes.

"Holy shit, that's different," He commented. Astoria frowned at him.

"Thanks. It's 'different,' not 'nice' or 'sexy,'"

"Draco can't call anyone else sexy, he has a girlfriend now," Theo sniggered beside them all. Draco raised an eyebrow and sat on the sofa.

"They are nice," He rolled his eyes. "I'm just glad you finally saw some sense- no guy wants to go out with a girl he battles with over height,"

"Exactly," She grinned. "And now that I'm seen as 'small' I'm also seen as 'delicate' which is a nice difference from 'complete bitch,'"

"Nobody thinks you're a bitch, Astoria," Blaise spoke up. Astoria sighed.

"I hope not, but I know the minds of seventeen year old girls. I'm known as a bitch," She smiled. "Well, I'm off to charms, see you later!"

As she walked out the door, Theo turned around. "Man, her arse is nice,"

Draco smirked. "Don't play pranks on any Gryffindor's and I'll convince her to go on a date with you,"

Theo glared. Was it worth it? "…Fine,"

* * *

"So, everything has finally calmed down?" Hermione asked, handing Draco a drink. It was nice to see him in his uniform again.

"Yes- finally," He flopped onto the sofa next to her and put his legs up on the table in front of them.

"How has Aerilyn gotten used to a normal life again?" Hermione asked. Draco looked at her and shrugged.

"She's alright, she's already preparing for Hogwarts and she has her eye on a guy," He chuckled. Hermione breathed a laugh.

"House?"

"Gryffindor," Draco rolled his eyes.

"Like sister, like brother?" Hermione offered. Draco smiled as she laughed at her own joke.

"Have you come to terms with everything?" Hermione asked quietly after laughing. Draco sighed, his expression becoming serious.

"Honestly, no. It's too much to take in," He said. Hermione nodded.

"I'm finding it hard to believe and it barely even happened to me, you must be so confused," She said. He nodded.

"I am… but I'm glad, in a way. It proves that Lucas wasn't… completely heartless. He still had a bit of… him, left inside of him,"

"Are you surprised at that?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded.

"In a way, I am, but I feel like a part of me always knew," He frowned.

"He had… problems. He was probably the same nice person underneath all of that," Hermione said, her face soft.

Draco nodded. "I hope it was that…"

Hermione sighed, deciding to change the conversation. "Well, at least now we can study for exams," She grinned. Draco groaned and threw his head back, closing his eyes.

"I can't be bothered doing exams," He whined. He brought his head up and looked at her, his expression one that she couldn't read.

"Honestly- I'd rather just spend as much time as I can with you,"

Hermione smiled. "Honestly? Me too,"

* * *

**So all is well. Aerilyn is alive again.**

**I might rewrite this story one day. (By one day I mean in around 2-3 years, not anytime soon.) **

**Again, it's a possibility that I could write a sequel for this story, so please let me know if you guys would like one, or do you think this story is just good on its own? **

**Thank you guys for everything. I love you all! **

**-FallenForTheDraco**


End file.
